Forever Yours
by I am Alice Cullen
Summary: Maggie's gone missing, and Delos is ready to tear down the world to find her. But when sinister forces are at work and Delos no longer has the Blue Fire to protect those he loves, will true love win out over evil? Will Delos ever find Maggie again?
1. Prologue

The soft morning light drifted through the windows, lighting the massive bedroom with a soft glow. There was no warmth from the light, as expected here in the 'Black Kingdom', but it nevertheless dispelled the night and brought some form of brightness to the otherwise dreary and yet beautiful palace. For a moment I fought against awakening—the thought of waking up made me even more tired and sore than I already was. I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Maybe I should stay in bed all day—I was completely sure that Delos would allow me to, probably because he himself probably needed the bed rest two. Saving the whole entire world could take a good punch out of your strength, if you know what I mean.

Staying in bed with my—well, husband in vampire terms but not yet human terms husband sounded like a good idea to me. Not opening my eyes, I moved my hands to feel for Delos's body, but came up instead with the edge of the ridiculously large bed. Realizing that I was facing the wrong way, I rolled over, fully expecting my hands to touch the soft fabric of Delos's night shirt.

Only to realize quickly that my hands met with the bed sheets beneath me. Worry flashed through me—Delos wasn't supposed to get out of bed yet; he'd only saved the world two days ago, and even with the Power he couldn't heal that quickly! Suddenly every sense was wide awake and my eyes flew open to the sight of his empty side of the bed. "Delos?" I called out into the room but not quite expecting him to have been there. Sometimes he woke up pretty early.

But to my relief Delos's voice answered me from the closet. "Good morning Maggie," his voice was filled with much love as he greeted me, but I could still detect the exhaustion in his voice.

I sat up as he walked out of the closet, fully dressed in black breeches, a long-sleeved, partly open shirt and black riding boots. Slung over his arm was his black cape. "Uh, good morning," I managed to greet, a little bewildered with his appearance. "Um…are you going somewhere?" I tried to recall if he'd said anything about needing to go somewhere today but I couldn't remember anything of the sort.

Delos shook his head, his black hair falling gently across his forehead. "No, I don't need to go anywhere; we have a meeting with Prince Alec today." I vaguely remembered Delos telling me that a prince from a neighboring and yet distant Night World kingdom wanted a meeting with him, but I hadn't imagined that Prince Alec would want it so soon after Delos had fought in one of the biggest battles ever fought.

"We?" I questioned—normally whenever matters arose for his kingdom he himself went and took care of it. So naturally I was surprised that he was inviting me in on an extremely important meeting on which I hadn't a clue about.

Delos nodded as he plopped himself down next to me, his expression soft and patient. "You are my wife by Night World standards—I want you to be by my side when I need to make important decisions. Besides—my kingdom is now your kingdom." I smiled and reached for his hand, closing it in mine tightly. He returned the squeeze before he continued on. "I also thought that we could meet with your brother and talk about what we're going to do now."

I blinked at him in surprise. "What would we be talking about?" Delos's burning golden eyes drifted away to my face and to our entwined fingers, his thumb starting to trace circles on my hand as he quietly answered me.

"I can tell that you miss your parents," He paused, and I could see the pain on his face, "I've felt you're longing to let them know that you and your brother are alright. I want for you to be happy, so I think its time that we discuss our options since its not like you can use a," He paused, his face showing that he was trying to remember a term for something, "Phone."

One of the things about being soulmates was that you couldn't hide your feelings from them, no matter how hard you tried. For the past few months since my permanent stay in the castle, I'd done whatever possible to keep the subject away from my left-behind family. Don't get me wrong, I certainly wanted to see them and comfort them and maybe even get Delos to come out and meet them, but every time I thought about doing so one thing always made me shy away from the idea.

I didn't want to leave Delos alone for more than a few hours.

Delos himself had shied away from loneliness since we'd been together so I naturally didn't want to make him feel alone and abandoned one bit. But that also meant leaving behind my family, a sacrifice that I found myself struggling with. "I don't want to leave you," I said simply, determined in my resolution. Delos instantly saw that and his own jaw tightened in frustration.

"I know that you want to go," he started, but I cut him off.

"No, I don't! I want to be here with you—we can finally live in peace and…"

"It is because of the peace that I want to discuss this now." Delos interrupted. "If we do this now when there's no impending doom looming in our future, you can enjoy your time with your family and I can be assured that you're safe." Delos took a deep breath, his eyes pleading. "Could we please talk about this with your brother?"

I sat there for a moment, reading his features, trying to look for any weakness but as expected found none. _Do you really want to talk about this that badly?_ I thought to him mentally, knowing that he would pick up on it. He didn't disappoint. Instantaneously I was in his mind, reading his thoughts like they were mine, feeling his feelings as though they were apart of me. And I suddenly knew the answer before he directed the answer at me.

_Not really,_ he replied, and I was overwhelmed by his feeling of longing and loneliness. _But I want you to be happy. _

_I am happy,_ I told him, _you make me happy._

_I know; you complete me, Maggie._ His mental voice was full of such reverence and vulnerable-ness that before I knew what I was doing I'd crawled out from under the covers and closed the short distance between us, wrapping my arms tightly around him, feeling his warmth against my body. _I don't want you to leave, but I know, I can feel that you want to see your parents again. Who am I to deny you that right? I can't do that, Maggie; it's partly my fault you were taken away from them anyways._

I wanted to argue that it had been me who had run after Sylvia in the first place, but I decided against it. Instead I let out a resigned sigh and sent him my message of agreement; _we'll talk about it._

Have I ever told you how much I love you? Delos mentally asked as he pulled me away just enough to lean down and kiss me, sending sparks shooting up my spine. For a moment my mind blanked out so it was hard for me to concentrate enough to send my message back.

_You've let me know many times,_ I finally managed, _but are you supposed to be moving around? I can tell that you're still injured._ It was true—somehow I could feel his numerous bruises and almost-healed cuts as though they were my own.

_I'll be alright—I'm not about to have a meeting with Prince Alec while sitting bed-ridden. I'll just sit down in a chair or something. _

That was just like Delos—he never showed his weakness on the outside in public if he could help it. I'm actually more concerned about you—you didn't make it through the battle completely unscathed and you won't heal as fast as I will.

_Mostly sore,_ I said as his lips traced my jaw, each kiss sending pleasurable shocks through my body. _I didn't get nearly as injured as you did._

_Be careful, alright?_ Delos sighed and pulled away, standing up and thus breaking all contact from me. "Are you hungry?" right on cue, my belly growled embarrassingly loud, audible for both of us to hear. I blushed furiously as Delos broke out into a soft chuckle. "I guess that means yes," He held out his hand and I gladly took it and he pulled me out of bed, bringing me in for another kiss.

KKKKKKK

I paced the large throne room in front of the two thrones, feelings Delos's eyes on me as I moved, my green tunic brushing softly on the floor. "Maggie," Delos finally sighed, "He's not going to get here any faster if you keep pacing like that," I stopped and ran a hand through my auburn hair in frustration.

"I know," I agreed as I went up the steps to my throne next to his. "He was supposed to be here," I stopped myself from looking at my wrist where my watch had been back before any of this had happened, "a while ago."

"It's not like he can get a," He paused, trying to remember the term, "_Car_ through the pass."

I nodded, trying to relax my sore muscles. "I really just wish he'd had the courtesy to wait till you were rested up and I wish we could have had a little more protection." Delos tensed beside me but he nodded nonetheless. After the battle for the good of the world, Delos and the rest of the Wild Powers found that their blue fire had simply disappeared and that none of them could call upon it. All yesterday he'd been lying in bed taking glances at his arm, his eyebrows furrowed with stress and worry.

Even this morning I'd seen him take a few glances at his arm and a longing look would flicker onto his face. I couldn't help but feel bad for him—he'd had that power his entire life and had relied on it but now it was gone, vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye. But he didn't complain about it. I hadn't even gotten a glimpse of his feelings on the matter whenever we touched, but I knew that it still bothered him, that much was obvious.

"The witches wards will have to do for now," Delos told me, closing off the subject. I nodded—since Delos had agreed to join Circle Daybreak, the palace had been swarmed with Circle Daybreak members, including witches, all bent on protecting the Wild Power. Even after the big battle none of them had made a move to leave, so I had to wonder if they planned on staying. Something I was sure that both Delos and I would appreciate in the future. Besides Circle Daybreak members, there was Miles, Jeanne, and a few of the other human's who were uncomfortable with venturing into the outside world for the first time by themselves lived in the castle, but I was certain that now they'd eventually start to go their separate ways, leaving Delos and I alone.

I was aroused from my musings when the door to the throne room opened and in stepped Jeanne, her red hair slightly wind-blown and her breath coming in gasps as though she'd just finished jogging. "Prince Alec is here," She managed to announce, "Would you like me to show him in?" I couldn't help but smile in amusement—Jeanne sometimes acted like a receptionist without really meaning to.

"Yes please, let him in." Delos answered with a smile, his fingers brushing mine reassuringly.

Jeanne disappeared and a moment later the large wooden door opened again and this time an unfamiliar, tall figure stepped proudly into the room as though he was the one who commanded it and not Delos. The moment I saw him I knew instantly that he was a vampire just by his looks—he had dirty blonde hair that fell into predator-like blue eyes, and broad shoulders that were set in a posture that reflected animal-like predatory. Like he was a tiger stalking his prey. His stern expression didn't change until he was half way between us and the door.

I expected him to come forward more, but for some reason he stopped, keeping his distance. Slowly his lips stretched into a smile, but it was unfriendly and uncaring, as though he were only doing it to show that he was somewhat satisfied to be here. "Prince Delos," He greeted and I could tell that there was a more southern accent in the way he spoke, but I couldn't tell from which part of the United States it was from. "It is an honor to finally be able to meet with you in person," His eyes flickered to me casually but the moment our eyes met his stern, uncaring expression was lost, replaced by shock, confusion, and then the bone-chilling look of hunger that vampires got when they crossed a human while hungry.

I sat there frozen, not daring to move a muscle while shivers were crawling up my spine. Suddenly I had a very bad feeling about this man.

Keeping his eyes on me, he hissed, "Prince Delos, I had no idea that you let vermin in on important meetings, much less sit on the throne," I wasn't sure what emotion there was in his voice, but I could tell that whatever he was feeling it was far from happiness.

Delos wasted no time in reprimanding Prince Alec for his words, "This is my wife Maggie and I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd refrain from speaking about her like that." His voice was filled with contained anger and I knew instantly that whatever Prince Alec wanted, there was no way he was going to get it now.

Alec, on the other hand, seemed even more shocked by Delos's revelation. "But she's human!" He hissed, his eyes darting from Delos to me and then back to Delos. I could see the disgust welling up in his expression and I wondered if he meant to show his feelings. For some reason royalty in Night World kingdoms didn't like to show their emotions to one another. "I can understand human slaves," I had the sinking suspicion that he assumed Jeanne to be a slave, and although she no longer was I decided that it was probably not a good idea to bring up the issue, "But a human _wife_? Forgive me for asking this, but are you out of your mind?"

Delos sounded even angrier, and when I stole a glance at him I could see that his whole body was tensed as though he were trying to hold himself back from attacking Alec. "One thing you must understand is that here in my kingdom we don't treat human's like vermin,"

"You've done so for centuries!" Alec exclaimed, his composure crumbling down like the Berlin Wall.

"That may be so, but I don't intend for it to be that way any longer. So while you're here, you will treat them like equals or you can get out." There was no alternative option in Delos's voice, meaning that Alec no other choice than to work with what he'd been given.

Alec's eyes flickered back to mine, and for a moment there was something in there that made me squirm a bit in my seat. Alec, I realized, was wrong. He wasn't like Delos, who deep down was vulnerable and good-hearted. Alec was the true image of the horror that had been associated with the word vampire in human minds.

He was evil.

Finally he turned his attention back to Delos, his eyes hard and once again unreadable. "I see," He mumbled, "If that's how it is, than I guess that means that an alliance is out of the question."

Delos tensely nodded, "Correct." The two men stared at each other for a long intense moment before finally Alec turned and left the room, his boots echoing on the stone floor.

We watched as Prince Alec stormed out of the room like an angry toddler in silence, neither of us bothering to call him back as he slammed the door behind him. "He's really that upset, huh?" I asked, more to myself than to anyone else.

"Yes," Delos answered and I could tell by his voice that he was still stiff with anger.

"So he came all this way to propose an alliance and yet he storms out the moment he finds out that we're together?" Not to mention drag you out of bed, I thought to myself but I didn't mention it out loud. "I don't see how me being human would affect anything…"

"An alliance doesn't exactly mean just promising to help protect the other," Delos interrupted, "Here in the Night World; it also means that you provide each other with…resources. Prince Alec's kingdom relies on the human slave trade, like ours used to. Because of our last battle though, I'm sure that running that business is much harder to do alone, so he came here expecting me to help him out with it." The whole time he was explaining, the pit in my stomach started to grow more and more. Now I understood why Prince Alec was so upset and why he hadn't tried to present his proposal. "No matter," Delos sighed, getting up and stretching his arms before he turned to me, a small and yet troubled smile on his face as he held his hand out to me. "Shall we go find your brother?"

I could see now that Delos was determined to forget about the last meeting, but I wasn't so sure about it. Something about the way Alec had looked at me still made chills crawl up my spine—somehow I knew that we wouldn't be seeing the last of Prince Alec anytime soon.

But instead of expressing my concerns, I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and grasped Delos's hand. "Let's," I replied, giving him my best self-assured smile.

KKK

A few days later, Delos went to my horse's side and offered me his hand, ready to help me dismount. I gratefully let him help me down—I never quite got the hang of riding horses, so Delos often had to help me get on and off.

A few days ago, after much discussion, we'd finally come to a conclusion that I wasn't so sure I was exactly happy with. Although the last thing I wanted to do was leave Delos alone, I had to reluctantly agree with Miles that we couldn't just abandon our parents with no knowledge of whether or not we were safe.

So it was decided that today Miles would drive both Jeanne and I back to our house—Jeanne and Miles had developed a fond relationship for one another and couldn't be separated—and in a few days Delos would come down to meet my parents. The story we'd come up with to explain our new relationships with Jeanne and Delos was that they were siblings—although they looked nothing alike—and that they'd helped me find Miles. The reason Delos wasn't with us when we first arrived was because he was a mountain ranger—I had to snicker at that image, since I was sure of everything Delos would do in his life, a mountain ranger was not one of them—and needed to wait for someone to come up and take his shift.

The entire story had been Miles' idea and I was sure hoped it worked. I was a little more than upset because Jeanne got to come with us while Delos –who was technically my husband although I sure wasn't going to inform my parents of that little fact—had to stay behind, but Miles insisted that our parents had enough to deal with with our homecoming after months of absence and worry. Announcing that their seventeen year-old daughter was madly in love with a strange un-known man wouldn't exactly brighten their day.

So that's how I wound up standing by a silver Mercedes supplied by Circle Daybreak in dark-blue jeans, a forest green tank top with a white wind breaker on top and a set of new converse that were steadily getting dirtier by the minute.

I hadn't worn clothes like this since the day of the battle, but even then it was only till we got back to the castle. Although I'd grown accustomed to wearing medieval-styled dresses, I couldn't help but start to like the modern clothes more. They were easy to move around in, for one, and I felt about twenty pounds lighter—so light, I felt as though I might start to float like a balloon.

I watched as my brother, also wearing a new set of modern day clothes, took the keys from Jeanne, who had taken them from him soon after he'd first received them, claiming that she was sure that since he was a guy he'd lose it. Jeanne, who had always worn something not-modern around me, looked like a complete stranger to me. Her red hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a black wind-breaker that was zipped up, covering her white tank top underneath—she refused to wear something that would reveal the now faint scars on her back (The witches had conjured up some spells to help heal the scars and they'd mostly disappeared, but you could still see the faint traces of them). Unlike me, she wore a pair of white shorts that showed off her legs and black flip flops.

She looked really uncomfortable.

"Come on Maggie," My brother said as he crossed over to the drivers side and I noticed, to my disappointment, that Jeanne was silently calling shot gun by moving to the front passenger side of the car. Instead of trying to convince her that the spot was indeed mine since it was my brother and since I was the only other one in the car who could drive, I decided to shut my mouth and nod to Miles.

"I'll be just a minute," I said, hoping that he'd understand. Miles glanced at me, nodded once, and then grinned at Delos.

"Hey, I'll see you in a few days, man!" he called; Miles was the only person I knew who had the guts to call Delos 'man', but Delos didn't seem to really mind so much anymore.

Delos smiled back at him and nodded. "Goodbye Miles," He replied before turning his attention to me. Immediately his expression softened, and I could see every worry he had and I could almost see the depth of his loneliness.

Before I made the conscious decision to, I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist and burying my face into his chest. "I don't want to go," I whispered, my voice sounding child-like.

"Yes you do," Delos whispered back, his arms encircling me, trying to comfort both of us.

"But I don't want to leave you—and not just because I don't want to leave you alone. You've seriously spoiled me, Delos—I don't know how long I can go without your presence near me."

"It's only a few days," Delos reassured me, but he himself didn't sound too reassured.

"It already feels like eternity." I lifted my face from his chest, feeling the splatter of the drizzling rain on my cheeks. "I love you," I whispered. The next instant, Delos had leaned down, his lips pressing against mine in a feverish passion, his hold around me tightening to the point where I could barely breathe.

When he pulled away, he leaned his forehead against mine. "I'll be there soon, okay?" he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from my face. I nodded and pecked him on the lips before I turned and left his embrace, opening the back door to the car. Just before I got in though, I turned around and caught gazes with Delos. We stared at one another for a moment before I sighed.

"See you soon," I whispered before I slid myself into the car and shut the door behind me. Miles took that moment to turn the car on and start to pull forward away from the curb before I could change my mind and leap out of the car and insist to stay. I looked back and stared at the slowly diminishing figure as we drove away.

KKK

"That'll be 11.95, miss," The fat, dull-looking man with a thick accent said, handing me a bag of cheep gas station goodies. I handed him over a twenty and as he counted out my change, I looked into the bag and snatched out my Butterfinger. One of the things I'd missed about the modern out-side world was the unbelievable amounts of junk food available…and indoor plumbing systems.

The man handed me back the change and I smiled and thanked him before turning and opening the door. The moment the door was open, I clutched the bag and Butterfinger to my body and broke out into a run across the flooded pavement, trying my best to shield the goodies from the pelting, freezing, cold rain.

I was half-drenched by the time I'd opened the back door and jumped in. Miles –who had been filling the gas tank—and Jeanne—who had been in the bathroom—whirled around to see the contents of the bag, their faces bright with anticipation. I was sure they'd missed this part of the outside world as well.

"Miles I got you a coke and a giant-sized pay day," I announced to him, pulling them out of the bag and handing them to him, "And I got you Sour Patch Kids and since I didn't know what kind of soda you liked I figured you couldn't go wrong with lemonade so that's what I got you."

Jeanne greedily took the candy and drink from my hands and turned back around in her seat. "Thanks Maggie!" Jeanne called back as Miles turned the car on and pulled forward. I started to peel back the wrapper to the Butterfinger and leaned back against the leather seats, trying my best to relax while watching the landscape fly by.

I managed to keep my mind occupied on the beautiful landscape for the next forty five minutes, listening to the soft sound of the radio in the background. But about ten minutes after passing through a small town which's name escapes me, I heard a seat belt unclick from up front.

I whirled my attention to the front to find Jeanne climbing over the console, trying to get into the back seat. I blinked, surprised. What was she doing? I wondered; had she and Miles got into an argument while I wasn't paying attention? "What are you doing?" I managed to ask, my voice quiet from the forty five minutes of un-use.

Jeanne pulled herself into the back and started to lie down. "I'm tired," She announced, "Unless you want me to put my feet on your lap, I suggest that you move up front." I stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was serious. When it appeared that she was, I sighed and unbuckled my seat belt.

"I'm coming up Miles," I announced as I stood up as far as I could, "Slow down a bit." Miles did as I said and to my satisfaction I saw the speedometer decelerate from eighty miles per hour to fifty miles per hour.

"Be careful Maggie," He started as I started to climb over the console as Jeanne had. I stopped climbing briefly to turn and shoot back a smart, playful remark, but as my eyes passed over the windshield, something large and brown caught my eye.

I didn't know what it was. All I knew was that the moment I saw it, I knew where it was going before it actually got there.

It walked right in the road in front of us.

My throat tightened in panic and I whirled to face Miles who'd taken the moment to glance at me, his mouth wide open to chew me out for not getting into my seat. "M-MILES!" I managed to yell, my brain working much faster than my mouth as I pointed ahead of us.

Miles' head snapped forward and a split second later he saw the large looming object coming at us fast and shouted a very bad word as he slammed on the breaks.

There were two major things that went wrong at once. First, by the time he'd hit the breaks he might have stopped in time under normal weather conditions. But the cold rain storm had turned the roads into a slippery wet surface that made it so that the tires squealed out from beneath us, driving us head-first into the object.

But second, before we'd hit the creature, the laws of physics were applied to both Jeanne and I. Jeanne, who had been laying down in the back seat, merely lurched off the seat and up against the back of the two front seats, yelping in protest. But unfortunately, since I had been the one who'd just barely climbed over the console, I flew forward head-first into the windshield which thankfully—but still painfully—only cracked.

I only felt the splitting pain for a second before I blacked out, thus missing the part where Miles swerved the car in one last effort to dodge the object, hit it nonetheless, and then went spinning out of control off the road where the car proceeded to roll. I chose that moment to come back to consciousness for some odd reason—not that I could see anything. All I knew was that my world was suddenly loud with yelling and screaming and spinning uncontrollably. I felt like a pinball—with each time the car rolled over, I too rolled all around with the car, knocking into the car itself and occasionally what felt to be Miles.

What seemed like eternity must have only lasted for a few seconds, because it wasn't long before the world stopped spinning and I was slammed to a stop.

Silence. Pain. Unbelievable, unbearable pain. In some places I felt numb—in other places I felt wet—and in other places I felt pain that I never knew was possible to feel. But I didn't think so much on the pain. As my world started to black out, I vaguely recognized that my scrambled thoughts were mostly on Delos, Miles and Jeanne. I wanted to find them, make sure they were okay. But when I tried to move, I found I couldn't. Instead, my world blacked out further as two strong hands grasped me from under the arm-pits and pulled me out and into darkness.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**WHOOT! :D The first ever Delos and Maggie fanfiction that's more than one page! What I mean by that is that the only Delos and Maggie posted thing is a poem, and a few people are talking about short stories, but I can't do poems unless I'm in the mood and I also can't do short stories because....well, how am I supposed to sum everything up in one chapter and not want to continue? D: I couldn't do it. And I wanted a Delos and Maggie story so much because I think that its one of the stronger story-lines of the Night World series. Don't get me wrong, I love the other books too, its just that this one is one of the more memorable ones, you know?**

**So I took it upon myself to write the first ever long, multiple chapter story for Delos and Maggie! :D WHOO! I don't know why, since I'm trying to work on like three of my own stories (one about a princess, the other kind of sort of similar to Black Dawn just by terms of theres human slave trades going on and the sequel to the one I'm hoping to publish soon which is about vampires). Not only that, but I'm also working on like twenty fanfics. WHOO! :D**

**Now since this is just the prologue, not too many things are to be revealed just yet. so naturally I'm sure there are questions. You cann ask the questions, but I'm not sure how many I'll actually answer at this point just because it would give away plot lines. As long as there is no plot-line giving away-ness, I'd be happy to answer!**

**But that means that you people have to REVIEW! D: I worked hard on this baby and I want to continue to work hard. But as an author, I need a little bit of support, especially since my best friend who normally supports me in my fanfic writting hasn't read this series and therefore I don't think I'll be able to convince her to read it. (sad face)**

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	2. Chapter 1

Something was wrong; something had gone terribly wrong, and Delos knew it. He didn't know how he knew it—one moment he was roaming his kingdom aimlessly on his horse, trying to anything but think about Maggie's missing presence, and then the next moment he'd been overwhelmed with this sickening sinking feeling, the feeling that one gets when they realize they've forgotten something very important at the last moment.

Delos's first impulse was to gallop full-speed back to the castle, ready to defend it from whatever was attacking it. But when he arrived, he found that nothing had been disturbed. A few of the witches gave him funny looks as he ran through the corridors, checking every room, trying to find the problem.

But the more he searched, the more his mind started to drift back to Maggie.

No, not possible! He thought, angrily shoving the idea of her being in any sort of danger out of his mind. She was with Miles and Jeanne—both of whom he knew were just as strong-willed and stubborn as she was. If there was any sort of danger, they'd have the best chance of making it through it.

But even when reassuring himself, his worry grew deeper, touching the inner-most parts of his soul. Something wasn't right—something was dreadfully wrong.

Having checked every room in the castle, Delos reluctantly started for the main entry way, trying to calm down his nerves. She's okay, he told himself, there's nothing to worry about…

But as he entered the entry way, the knowledge that it wasn't grew more firm. In front of him the messenger witch—who carried messages back and forth between he and Circle Daybreak—was speaking rapidly in a low voice to another witch, whose eyes were wide with horror, her fingers reaching up to cover her mouth. "Oh no," She was wailing over and over again, and Delos wondered if she was even listening to the messenger anymore. Delos stopped, keeping out of their sight and listened. He couldn't hear the messenger with the other witch wailing so much, but he knew that by the witch's wailings that something had gone terribly wrong, thus confirming his bad premonitions. Finally the witch stopped crying 'oh no,' and cried, "How are we supposed to tell Prince Delos?"

No longer could Delos contain himself. He stepped forward into their view. "Tell Prince Delos what?" He demanded, trying to keep himself as calm as possible. Both witches swerved around to look at them, their faces filled with shock and terror. Neither of them seemed able to answer, but Delos was much too impatient to wait for them. "Well, what's happened?"

The witch who had been wailing burst into tears, whether it was from fear or just mere sadness Delos couldn't tell. But thankfully the messenger stepped soberly forward but she didn't quite meet his eyes. "Your Highness," She started, a flush coming upon her cheeks, "I regret to inform you that there's been an…accident."

Delos went completely cold. No, he thought, no, no, no, no, no, oh PLEASE no! But as he was thinking this, he found that his more reasonable side had taken over and was speaking for him, "What sort of accident?"

The messenger gulped and stumbled back a bit. "Earlier this evening…there was a car accident." Delos didn't need to ask what they meant—he knew exactly who it was the witch was talking about. "Something jumped in front of the car, and Miles tried to stop, but because the road was so slick, the tires skidded. He tried to swerve, but that only succeeded in getting the car to speed out of control. The moment they swerved off the road, the car rolled…"

"And Maggie?" Delos demanded, his mind vividly painting the picture that the witch was describing. He'd never known cars to be such a danger—it showed just how little he truly knew about Maggie's world. If he'd known, he would have insisted that she stay, maybe get her parents to come up here…

The witch's face paled—this is what she truly didn't want to tell him. "When Circle Daybreak got to them, they only found Miles and Jeanne in the car."

Relief washed through Delos, something he realized soon after was a stupid feeling to have felt. "So she wasn't in the car with them," The witch flinched, giving Delos the dreaded confirmation that in fact she had been.

No, he thought, his entire insides seeming to pour out onto the floor, this couldn't be happening. Not to him, not to Maggie…

"Both Miles and Jeanne are conscious, although both have serious injuries—Miles, though, is much further on his way to recovery on account of his shape shifting ability. Miles says that Jeanne and Maggie were switching places and neither of them had their seat belts on. When the car got out of control, Jeanne was mostly pressed up between the back and front seats until the car started to roll, so she didn't get too badly injured, and Miles lost some blood and got a bunch of glass stuck in his skin, but he was wearing his seat belt." She took a deep breath, steadying herself before she continued. "But Maggie wasn't in a good position at all. Miles said she hit the windshield, although thankfully get tossed out of the car and although he wasn't sure exactly what happened after that, he says she slammed into him a few times when they rolled."

Delos suddenly felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath him, leaving him falling into an endless black hole. For the first time since he was a child, he wanted to cry. He wanted to tear at something, destroy something, and crawl back into a corner and just break down.

"We don't know where she is," The messenger went on, determined to finish the message, "and we're doing everything possible to try to find her. But we can't guarantee that we can find her in time to save her. She must have serious injuries, maybe even fatal ones…"

"STOP IT!" Delos shouted, surprising both of the witches to the point where they both stumbled back, their eyes wide with fright. "She's not dead," As he spoke the words, he knew they were true. He could feel that there had been something terribly wrong, but it wasn't that. He knew it without a doubt. Maggie was strong, and their connection was stronger than any he'd ever seen. If Maggie had died, he would have known. The feeling would be worse than this. He'd feel like he'd lost himself along with her—but he felt the determination to go and find her, to save her before it was too late. "Where are Miles and Jeanne now?" He demanded.

"There's a small Circle Daybreak post near the crash site," The messenger answered reluctantly, her eyes full of worry and sadness. "Miles and Jeanne are stationed there for healing—tomorrow morning just before sunrise two Circle Daybreak members—Rashel and Quinn, I think their names were—will be at the pass to take you to them. You'll decide what to do from there."

"I want to find her," Delos insisted, his voice rising again. "I want to go find her now!"

The messenger shrugged her shoulders, "I am truly sorry about this Prince Delos, but there's nothing we can do about it right now. I suppose you could leave right now, but the fastest way to travel is by car, which you don't have. You'd be more productive if you waited till you could collaborate, maybe wait for a team of Circle Daybreak members to help you out—the more people you have the better chance you have at finding her." The witch's words were practical…but they still made Delos feel useless.

Maggie was out there, hurt and frightened and waiting for his rescue. How long did she have? He didn't know. All he knew was that the more time he wasted the better chance of her not making it through the night.

But he couldn't go—the witch was right. A horse wasn't nearly as fast as a car—he'd get there much faster if he waited for the two Circle Daybreak members to pick him up. But that meant making it through the night…for the both of them.

_Stay strong Maggie,_ he thought as he nodded to the witch and turned, heading back up to his bedroom to prepare for the trip, _I'm coming for you soon—just hang on till I get there! _

KKK

The entire world was filled with darkness and unbearable pain. I felt like I was floating in mid-air, but at the same time I felt tons heavier. I couldn't think—I couldn't move or open my eyes and after a few painful tries I gave up.

Was I dead? The thought crossed my mind and a new wave of pain washed over me—if I could have, I would have let out the screams of pain I desperately wanted to let out. No, I struggled to think, if I was dead I wouldn't be in so much pain.

So where was I? I didn't know. At the moment I was in too much agony to care. My head throbbed to the beat of my heart, and each breath I took sent a pang through my chest. I could hardly hear myself think, it hurt so badly.

"This isn't good," A sudden male voice invaded my world, startling me and sending a wave of pain through my mind. I didn't know the voice, but I still thought I'd heard it before. But I didn't bother to try to remember it because thinking was a major challenge to me. "At this rate she won't make it through the night," His voice sounded irritated and was increasing in anger.

"Is she really that important?" Another male voice whom I was not familiar with asked.

"There's no chance of an alliance without her," The first voice snapped. Alliance…the word triggered recognition in my mind but I didn't remember why.

The other man snickered, a sickening sound that sent painful chills up my spine. "I still can't believe Prince Delos would fall for such a weak piece of worthless vermin."

Delos—my mind instantly knew that name, and my heart beat faster, the pangs in my chest therefore increasing. Where was he? Was he ok? My breathing became more labored and the second speaker stopped chuckling.

"I guess Delos was weak after all," The first sighed, "But we need his help if our society is to survive. He won't agree to it otherwise. And if she dies, all that will do is make him angry and determined to destroy everything we've worked hard for."

"So what do we do, boss?" Silence. As the silence grew, I suddenly started to get a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something wasn't right here…

"Ok," The first voice sighed, finally breaking the silence. What was ok? I didn't understand.

And then the bite came.

It was swift and painful, tearing into my neck and making my body tense as the life drained out of me. I could feel the blood transferring from my body to the fangs that were imbedded in my neck, replacing the original pain with a whole new meaning of pain.

I was dying.

My mind knew that, but for some reason all I could think about was Delos. I was going to die and leave him here all alone. That alone was a pain greater than anything I had felt or was feeling so far. I didn't want to leave Delos here alone again—I knew without a doubt that it would destroy him.

_I'm so sorry Delos,_ I thought, _I love you…_

As soon as I thought that, though, the pain stopped and the fangs released my neck. Dizziness and confusion replaced the pain.

_Oh, just kill me now,_ I wanted to plead—_there was no reason to torture me! I hadn't done anything worthy of such a thing!_

That's when someone firmly grasped my jaw and squeezed, forcing my mouth open. Now what? I wondered, poison? But a moment later thick, hot, sweet-tasting liquid spilled into my open mouth and another set of strong, firm hands roughly grasped my shoulders, lifting me up just enough for the liquid to fall back down my throat.

_Don't swallow!_ A warning bell was crying somewhere in the back of my mind, _swallow and you'll regret it_! But I couldn't help it. With each swallow, the pain in my mind disappeared along with the rest of it and I was slowly starting to feel heavy with sleep. It felt so much like a relief. Maybe this is what death feels like, I thought as the liquid was removed from my lips.

"Sleep, little human—sleep." The first voice was saying, but I hardly heard him.

As I fell into permanent darkness, my mind conjured one last picture of Delos—his black hair falling gently across his forehead, his burning yellow eyes, his lonesome, vulnerable smile…

_I'm sorry Delos,_ I thought as I surrendered to the darkness.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**So this is one of my shorter chapters, but I just felt like this was a good stopping point. I think its pretty obvious what's happening, even if Maggie doesn't quite know it yet. :D**

**Thank you soooooo much for the reviews! :D I very much apreciate them! Yes, I think that Maggie and Delos need some more creidt, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one here who loves this couple...cause otherwise I'd be the loner. LOL! **

**Well, I'm not exactly sure how to start the next chapter, even though I know what I'm going to do with it otherwise. Do you guys think I should start out with Delos's point of view or Maggies? Of course Delos isn't first person, but you get the point. Next chapter will probably be longer though. :D **

**Questions, comments?**

**Thanks for reading!**

**REVIEW!**

**Alice**


	3. Chapter 2

Delos jogged up the steps to the small urban-neighborhood home that was serving as the area's Circle Daybreak center and stopped at the door, shifting uncomfortably in his some-what lose blue jeans and tugging at his white long-sleeved wool shirt. How did men wear this stuff? He wondered for about the zillionth time since he'd tugged them on at the gas station nearest to the pass. It was probably one of the many unknown questions that he thought might never be answered.

Delos shook his head, his damp hair brushing his forehead and reached up and pushed the thing humans called a doorbell. Behind him the two who had driven him safely up here strolled up, keeping their distance. The black haired girl, Rashel, stood on her tip toes and whispered something into the man's ear, a small smile spreading across his lips. Delos winced and turned away—it was obvious from the beginning that these two weren't just partners, something at the moment he was envious of.

The door finally opened to reveal a woman with black curly hair and purple eyes—the mark of a witch. "Delos," She stepped aside, her eyes intent on him as he stepped through the threshold. "Welcome." Delos wanted to turn and snap at her, tell her that he wasn't here to feel welcome—he was here to get business done.

All he wanted to do was figure this out as quickly as possible so that he could begin his quest to find his Maggie.

Instead, Delos whirled around and asked, "Where are they?" He knew he was being rude, but at the moment he didn't care. Since meeting Maggie, he'd made it one of his goals to try to be as polite as possible to everyone, even those who he in reality wanted to beat the crap out of. But now that Maggie was alone and in danger, he wasn't exactly in the mood to be polite to everyone who stood in his way of going to her rescue.

The witch's eyes widened, and as she opened her mouth a familiar voice interrupted her, making Delos spin back around. "I'm right here," There stood Miles, looking much better than what Delos had originally pictured. He had a bandage still on his forehead and a few other scrapes, but otherwise he looked fine—must have been his new shapeshifter blood working. But that wasn't what concerned Delos and pulled him a little bit out of his own Maggie-obsessed world.

The look in Miles's eyes said it all. Miles, of everyone here, blamed himself for whatever happened out there. Although he tried to smile at Delos, Delos could see the self-blame lingering in his eyes and the lines of worry creasing his forehead. Delos sighed, trying to calm his nerves down a bit—he wasn't the only one here who was worried about Maggie. "Are you ok?" Delos found himself asking instead of shooting questions like, _"When can we leave? Who's going to search where?"_

Miles shrugged his broad shoulders, looking away from Delos to stare down at the ground. "I've felt worse," He commented, and Delos wondered if he was telling the truth. "You?"

"I didn't just walk out of a car crash," Delos reminded him, "How's Jeanne?"

Miles nodded his head, "I think she's going to be just fine—she's been itching to get back out there and look for…" His expression froze cold before turning into one of frustration. "I'm so sorry Delos—I don't know where it came from, I swear!"

"It's not your f—"

"DON'T TELL ME IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Miles's explosion caught Delos off guard. Miles never lost his cool—of everyone he was always the most positive one, always the one who was looking towards the future—his major difference with his head-strong leader of a sister. Delos wasn't sure how they'd make it through the next few hours—since he fully expected to find her within a few hours—if Miles was losing his control.

"Miles…" Delos started again, but Miles was raving now and Delos could see the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"After everything she's done for me…risking her life for me, going to search for me in unknown, unfamiliar places…and what did I do? I lost her, just when we'd finally found each other again. And all I've done about it so far is sit here."

"You're hurt," Delos cut in—he completely understood how Miles was feeling, except that he hadn't exactly been the one to lose her. "Look, it's as much your fault as it is mine," Delos started and quickly raised his voice to keep from being interrupted when Miles looked like he was about to object, "I was the one who insisted that you guys visit your parents—I could have had them sent up and kept you guys safe, but I just…I just wanted…." Delos stopped. He might have opened up a lot, but he wasn't about to let out all of his innermost feelings to Miles. He wasn't _that _comfortable.

Miles seemed to get the jist of what he was saying though because he didn't look at him like he was expecting more. "I'm still the one who lost her, after you trusted her…after she trusted me to get her back safely."

Delos couldn't take any of this anymore—all he wanted was to get a plan together, get out there and find Maggie and bring her back into the safety of his embrace. "Stop blaming this on you Miles—blaming yourself isn't going to get us anywhere!"

"He's right you know," Both of the men looked up to find Jeanne standing at the top of the stair case, her red hair drawn back into a pony tail. The messenger was right—Jeanne obviously hadn't been too hurt. On the outside, at least. Delos was sure that she was probably having a hard time moving much less getting out of bed. But there she was standing there and trying to look like there wasn't a sore muscle in her body. It was probably only possible because of her experience as a slave. "Blaming and arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. If we want to find her, we need to figure out a game plan and get moving as quickly as possible."

Miles instantly cut her off, his voice firm with his decision; "You aren't going anywhere; you're much too hurt for it!"

If looks could kill, the look Jeanne gave Miles would have been enough to wipe out entire armies. "Maggie's always been the one to put others before her needs—now it's my turn to return the favor. Besides—I feel better already." Delos could tell it was a lie and he was sure Miles knew it too, but Miles said nothing, only scowled and turned back to Delos.

"Alright," He started, "Let's get busy then."

KKK

"Wake up," I furrowed my eyebrows as the voice drifted through my dark world, shattering the peace and quiet that had enveloped around me, comforting me. No, I didn't wish to wake up. I wanted to stay there, away from all of the heart ache, the physical and mental pain…

"Wake up," Well, _someone_ was pushy, I thought irritably, my eyes fluttering a bit, light blinding my eyes every time I did so. "Wake up!" The command was rough and demanding this time and my entire body responded to it, my muscles tightening in a ways that they'd never tightened before. With an almost painful gasp, my eyes opened, the sunlight blinding my eyes for a long moment before finally it cleared, the room coming into clear focus.

At first I thought 'I'm in Delos's room', but when I tried to remember falling into bed with him and snuggling in his arms, I started to notice the differences in this room. Although I was covered with fur, the scent that lingered on it was different. Where Delos's fur blankets smelt like rain, dry autumn leaves and wild Washington forests, these fur blankets smelled like the sea, the sun and the smell of summer flowers.

The complete opposite of Delos's bed.

I bolted upright, my eyes wide as I frantically looked about the room. Instead of the almost furniture-bare room, the room was filled with elaborately carved Cherry wood furniture. I stared at it wide-eyed—this was_ not_ Delos's room, nor was it any other room in his castle.

Where in the world was I?

"Finally you're awake," An irritated, some-what familiar voice complained beside me, causing me to whirl towards it with wide eyes.

And froze.

Oh.

My.

Crud.

"_Prince Alec?"_ I managed to gasp, my emotions twisting through a violent whirl wind within me in such a way that I wasn't sure what I felt. But deep down in the pit of my stomach I felt a sinking, horrible feeling and questions started to arise in my mind frantically. Why was Prince Alec here? Where was Delos? And slightly more importantly, where was I?

I was starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this.

Prince Alec's expression mainly held irritation, but I could see a trace of amusement in his eyes. "Good afternoon," he greeted, but I didn't detect any real friendliness in his voice. "I'm sure that by now you've realized there have been…changes." Changes—did he mean the room? Well I could definitely tell that there'd been changes to that, because I knew for a fact that there was no room that looked or smelled like this in the Black Kingdom.

But instead I carefully replied, "I can tell,"

Prince Alec nodded, "How do you like them?" What did he mean? The room was alright, but why was I there? I couldn't enjoy anything if I didn't know where I was.

I couldn't hold in the questions anymore. "Where am I? Why are you here? Didn't Delos kick you out? I don't understand, why…" and then the memories started to seep in.

Oh no.

Horror washed through me as I remembered the car trip, the thing that had moved into our path at the moment I'd started to climb over the console, Miles slamming the breaks, the flashes of images from the wild car crash…

"Where's Miles?" I demanded. When Alec looked confused, I rolled my eyes and clarified, "Where's my brother? Where's Jeanne? Are they ok? Does Delos know? Has anyone contacted him and told him that I'm fine? Wait, am I fine?" I could remember falling forward and slamming my head into the wind shield, the rolling and knocking into objects and bodies. I looked down at myself, my hands going to my head to check for head wounds. As far as I could tell, there were no injuries whatsoever. I didn't even feel sore from the accident. "Why am I fine? How long has it been since the accident? Why isn't Delos here? How come—"

I think Alec must have been tired of standing there listen to me fire off thousands of questions, because he suddenly interrupted me harshly, "Obviously you're even more stupid than I thought…either that or just unobservant."

Under normal circumstances I could have argued against the insult and claimed that I wasn't stupid, but since I was so confused I let it drop and asked another question. "What am I supposed to have observed?"

Prince Alec rolled his eyes irritably. "Aren't you at all thirsty?"

"Thirsty?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Well, of course I was thirsty, now that I thought about it. "How long have I been out?"

"A few days,"

"Well then it makes perfect sense---of course I'm thirsty. But that isn't important, what I want to know is…" Alec suddenly roared in irritation, throwing his hands up angrily.

"You are SO stupid! I didn't mean if you were thirsty for water! I meant are you thirsty for blood?" I blinked at him in confusion. Was this some sort of a joke? I wasn't a vampire, I didn't need….

But his words started to sink in, along with horror and terror as I started to notice things. The thought of drinking water was almost…repelling. I didn't want water or soda or juice. Instead my thirst was more animal-like—just the mention of blood sent longing through me like never before.

Oh my crud….no, no no no no no! It wasn't true…it couldn't be true! Please no…please oh please no…

But it was. I could feel the differences now. The room looked clearer, every detail of the walls and furniture doubled as if they'd been magnified. Now that I thought about it, I could hear things better too, as well as feel the adrenaline rushing constantly through my veins, the desire to run and hunt…

I was a vampire.

"Why?" I hissed in horror, the sound startling me. It sounded like a real hiss…a hiss that an angry cat would make, not a human imitating a cat. "Why am I a vampire?"

Alec didn't look at all affected by my tone of voice. Instead, he looked amused by my reaction. "Sometimes when you're trying to keep peace in your kingdom, you end up doing drastic things that otherwise you might have not bothered with—setting up a car crash to kidnap you was one of those things that I normally wouldn't have taken the time to do." I stared at him in complete shock. Set…up….the car accident?

"How…how is that possible? We hit a…" Well, I wasn't sure what we'd hit, "an animal...you couldn't have predicted that…"

Alec shook his head, "I swear I don't know what Delos sees in you. One of our shapeshifters volunteered to get in the way of the car, thus getting you into an accident. It was a simple, predictable task, really." He paused, his expression turning to disproval. "What I didn't predict however was that you weren't in a seat belt. Don't you know how dangerous that is? Even I wear seat belts while in a moving vehicle. Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'click it or die'?"

"Its 'click it or ticket,'" I numbly corrected without really meaning to be of any help.

"Oh well whatever. Lucky for you, we pulled you out of the car just in time. We weren't going to do anything, but after a few hours it was quite obvious that you weren't going to make it through the night alive. So we changed you."

"But why?" I asked, still feeling numb from the overwhelming feeling of horror. Any moment now I knew that I was going to be enveloped in an angry tantrum, but at the moment I was too horrified and confused. Now that I thought about it, I did vaguely recall a conversation in a distant dream…

Alec looked at me as though the answer would be obvious. "Without you, Delos won't make an alliance with me. But if I have the one thing he cares about most, he'll make it without a question." I stared at him. I stared at him some more. And then I started to laugh hysterically. Alec didn't seem to appreciate it though, because anger flashed through his eyes. "What's so funny?" He demanded his voice rough.

"You really believe that, don't you?" I managed between laughs, "You think Delos will sign some alliance with you just because you have the love of his life? And you call me stupid."

"What are you talking about?" he snarled.

"You're only going to make him angry," I answered simply, "Not only have you injured me and those I care about, but you've changed me into a vampire, something which I'm sure that he feels is his right to do if I'd ever wanted to become one—which I didn't."

"Go cry me a river," Alec snapped, "I saved your life—you should be grateful to me."

"Well I'm not," I snapped back, the anger finally setting in, "this isn't what I asked for, and when Delos finds out he's going to be pissed."

"I figured he would be either way," Alec growled as if this was old news to him, "but that doesn't mean he won't sign the agreement with me…"

"He won't." I interrupted, my voice ringing with surety. "I know he won't. Because if there's one thing I hate the most, its human slave trade. And Delos knows that if he does even to save my life, I won't be at all happy with him." I leaned forward, enunciating every word. "And the last thing Delos wants to do is make me unhappy."

Alec stared at me, dumfounded. Obviously he hadn't thought that possibility through. Of course he wouldn't—he expected Delos to do the natural thing and do everything to get me back. And of course I knew Delos would. But doing everything possible didn't mean he'd go through with Alec's request—in fact Delos would probably take a more violent approach and just get rid of Alec all together. Not that I wanted him to kill anyone, but it was certainly better than torturing innocent humans. "You're sure of that?" he asked, his voice low.

"Yes."

Alec stared at me for a long moment before he sighed. "I have no choice then," hope suddenly flared within me—did that mean that I got to go home? That he'd given up his crazy schemes and decided to set me free?

My hope and questioning died when Alec pulled out a pointed wooden dagger from his hilt.

My breathing stopped as Alec looked at me square in the eye, no remorse at all in his expression for what he was about to do. "You're no use to me then."

Panic wanted to take over right then. I knew what was going to happen—he was about to plunge that dagger into my heart, thus killing me. Wood was the ultimate weakness of a vampire, one that I knew I wouldn't survive from if he succeeded.

I was down-right scared. But as panic started to take over, a voice of reasoning clearly sounded through my head, pushing back the panic. Before I knew what I was saying, I said, "Once again, you're obviously not as smart as you think you are."

"Excuse me?" Alec's eyes flashed dangerous silver—I was seriously making him angry.

"You think killing me is going to solve the answer? Sooner or later Delos is going to start to question whether this accident was really an accident. And the first person he's going to suspect is you. Before you know it, he's going to be on your front door step with a stake in hand and an army to back him up. Killing me is just going to mean war—and trust me; you don't want to get into a war with Delos. He can be pretty ruthless when he's angry." Alec lost the silvery look in his eyes and merely stood there, staring at me dumbfounded. I shrugged my shoulders as if this was no big deal and I wasn't really about to go mad with the fear of losing my life just when I'd gotten it back. "But hey, if you don't believe me go ahead. But give it a couple months—he'll be here, ready to take you down."

I actually had no idea if what I was saying had any absolute truth. Yes, I knew without a doubt that Delos would be angry. But that didn't mean that he was going to send an entire army down to destroy Alec. But Alec seemed to be taking me seriously, something I never imagined him to do with someone who had once been human. Slowly he lowered his dagger and sheathed it, shaking his head. "I wrongly misjudged your intelligence—maybe you should be sitting on the right hand side of a king." I thought it was probably a major compliment coming from a guy like Alec, but I didn't take it as one. Instead I nodded my head, cautious. Alec looked at me for along moment, before he sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to re-figure things out. In the mean time, I need to make sure you stay alive. Any moment now you're going to be gasping for some blood, so…" he motioned with his hand at a guard—who up until this point I hadn't noticed—who stood at the door. He guard nodded, opened the door to the room and left.

A moment later he dragged in a trembling human girl, her eyes wide with fright as the guard threw her onto the ground at the foot of the bed. Alec smiled a wicked smile at me, motioning to the girl with his hand. "Dinner is served." The guard grabbed the girl by the hair and pulled her up so that I could see her terrified face.

I was petrified. The girl looked at me with terror and…hatred in her eyes. Hatred and fear that was directed at me. Because of what I was. What she thought I was about to do too her.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head, my eyes wide with horror. "No, I can't do that!" the thought of biting into her flesh, tearing the life out of her…I couldn't do it. It felt almost like cannibalism. I knew it was a stupid feeling, just because I knew that I was now a vampire. But for most of my life up until a few days ago I'd been human. I'd been just like her. Heck, I'd even sort of been in her situation.

But my friends had been in her situation. I'd seen the effects of that life, what it did to them. I remembered the scars on Jeanne's back, the hatred of the humans towards my soulmate. "I thought you said you didn't have any more slaves,"

"We have a few still left. But most of them are older and their blood isn't as fulfilling. Be lucky we're offering you a young one." She certainly was young—she was maybe about my age. I could smell the blood that ran through her, young and sustaining, full of life. My fangs started to grow, and I saw the girls eyes flinch in terror.

No, I thought, scooting back till my back was against the head board, I wouldn't attack her. She wouldn't be attacked by me. I wasn't going to give her any reason to fear me—I wouldn't hurt her.

"Why aren't you going for her?" Alec snapped after observing the defiance in my face, "Don't you realize that you need the blood? I'm making you a generous offer!"

I shook my head, "I'm not going to hurt her." I stared straight at the girl as I said this, trying to get her to read the truth in my eyes. I didn't care how much her blood tempted me, how much I needed it—I wasn't going to ht an innocent human. The fear and hatred that was in the girls eyes was slowly being replaced by confusion and hope, although it was weak. I tore my eyes away from her and gave Alec a pleading look. "Can't I just drink animal blood? Wouldn't it have the same effect?"

"The animal's are gone." Alec said firmly, his irritation slowly turning into anger once more, "Take the girl's blood—it doesn't matter now that you're a vampire. She's vermin!"

"She is NOT vermin!" I instantly defended, leaning forward…

And that's when it happened.

I suddenly couldn't breathe. I felt like I needed oxygen, and even though I was clearly gasping for air, the feeling wouldn't go away. And it was painful. Insanely painful, and I was starting to grow desperate but I didn't know how to make it stop. My hands grabbed at the sheets, closing into fists as they did so.

"I told you, you need blood!" Alec insisted, "Take her blood now!"

I slowly gazed up at the girl. The fear was now in her eyes. She expected me to attack her now, use her as food. "No," I managed to gasp through my wheezes.

Alec got angry at that moment. "YOU'RE SO INFURIATING!" he shouted, grabbing me by the back of my hair so that I was forced to look at the girl, "YOU NEED THAT BLOOD TO LIVE! TAKE IT NOW!"

My vision was blurring and I knew that what he was saying made sense. I needed blood, I knew that now. But not like this, not against a poor, frightened girl's will. She might be different from me now and she might hold the substance that gave me life, but I wouldn't use her as a tool. "No—she's still a person." I managed to say.

Alec let out a furious roar, pulling my head back more so that now I was forced to look into his eyes. The fury I saw there frightened me. I froze, wheezing and gasping, staring at him with nothing but cold-blooded fear. Unlike Delos who had a temper, this man had absolutely no sense of right and wrong and mercy at all in his soul. I could see it now in his eyes. There was nothing there but anger and fury. A black, evil soul.

The true meaning of a vampire.

Alec opened his mouth to say something more, but a terrified voice suddenly spoke up, making us all freeze. "No—please, it's alright; if blood is what you need, take it."

My eyes widened in horror. What was wrong with this girl? I wanted to look at her, to read what was in her expression, but Alec still forced me to look at he turned to the girl. He took a long look at her before he finally turned to me. "See?" He demanded, "if you were waiting for an invitation, now's your chance." He finally released me and I dropped to the bed face-first, wheezing and coughing, gulping painfully for air. "Do what you want with her—she's yours."

With that, Alec stormed out of the room with a quick order for the guard to release the "vermin" and come stand watch outside.

He left me completely alone with the girl.

"Well?" The girl said, her voice weak and frightened, "are you going to take it or what?" I slowly raised my head to see that she was now standing at the foot of my bed, her wrist extended towards me. I stared at the blue veins in her wrist, the temptation stronger than ever. My tongue licked the tips of my fangs.

"I…I…" I wanted to refuse, tell her that she wasn't meant to be food, but I found I could no longer speak.

The girl sighed and carefully climbed up onto the bed, her wrist still extended towards me. "Do it—its okay." I shook my head as if to say that it wasn't, but she only shoved her wrist right under my nose. "Do it before I change my mind."

I looked up at her eyes then and saw that thee expression had changed. All that was left in her eyes was confusion and pity. Pity for me. And a certain sort of…kindness. I looked back down at her wrist and nodded, taking it gently in my hands. "Sorry," I rasped as I leaned down and bit as gently as possible into her wrist.

The blood flowed easily into my mouth, running down my throat. It didn't taste like rust the way it had back when I was still human—in fact, it tasted sweet, thick and luscious. And with each swallow, the pain went away. And as soon as the pain was gone, I pulled away, not wishing to drain the girl senseless. I stared down at her wrist at the quickly closing bite marks, running my thumb gently over them.

I'd bitten a human.

Guilt ran like crazy through me, tearing at the inside of my chest. "I'm so sorry!" I murmured, not daring to look up to face the girl, "I didn't want…I don't want…I…"

"Why don't you?" The girl asked. Instead of the hatred or the fear I expected to be in her voice, there was only awe. It caused me to cautiously look up at her face. She looked at me not with disgust, but with complete and total curiosity. "You aren't like the others," She whispered, "Most would have sunk their teeth gladly into me just because they could, but you…you were dying from lack of blood and you still refused to drink it from me while I was unwilling. Why?"

I stared at her for a long time, trying to find the right words. "Not too long ago I was sort of in your situation. I escaped before anything too serious could happen, but some of my closest friends had been under the same circumstances. The only reason we're not under it any more is because my soulmate turned out to be the prince and unlike Prince Alec who probably applauds the torture of humans, Delos immediately put an end to the entire thing when he found out exactly what was going on."

"Delos is your soulmate," The girl clarified.

"Yes, and he's the one Prince Alec wants to make an alliance with. He wants to use me to get Delos to agree to it, but I don't think it'll work. Alec is probably trying to work up a new plan right now as we speak." The girl still looked uncertain, so I sighed. "Even if I like it or not, we're now different from each other. We're no longer the same species. But just because we're different doesn't mean that you're any less worth wile than anyone else is. I'm not going to drink blood from you if you're unwilling."

The girl stared at me for along time, her eyes uncertain and yet curious. "I've certainly never met a Night Person like you before,"

"I didn't even know I was a Night Person until fifteen minutes ago."

The girl nodded her head, "I'm not sure if what you're saying is true," I was about to object and insist that what I was saying had no lie in it, but she continued on, "But I'm going to believe in you. There's something about you…the others might not see it, but I do. So you can count on me to give you blood willingly."

"You don't have to," I objected. The girl smiled softly.

"But I want to—besides, when you do it, it doesn't hurt a bit."

"Probably because you're doing it willingly," I laughed quietly. The girl said that there was something about me, but I knew there really wasn't. Contrary to what Delos said, I still didn't believe that I was all that extraordinary. It was more like there was something about this girl—so brave, that she'd willingly give her blood to keep a vampire fed. "What's your name?" I asked, smiling for the first time since I'd left Delos so many days ago—thinking back, it felt like an eternity since I'd last seen him. So many things had changed since then—life would never be the same again.

But at least I had someone new to share it with.

The girl reluctantly smiled. "Rogue," she answered.

I held out my hand and smiled wider when she took it firmly, "Hi Rogue—I'm Maggie. It's certainly an honor to meet you."

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**Now Maggie has a new little buddy! :D Hey, I couldn't let her be completely alone for this little adventure, you know! And I don't know about you, but I think Alec is in for a WHOLE lot of trouble. If there's one thing Delos cares about, its Maggie. **

**But THANK YOU for all of the reviews! They were awesome and so passionete! If theres one thing I love, its passionate reviewers! Now, I'm sure some of you have noticed, but I don't particularly like to write third-person stuff, so they're usually not as good as my first-person stuff. But Delos's point of view is necessary to the story, you know? We need to know what's going on through his head and what he's doing. I was going to put another section of his point of view in, but this chapter was already so long. So I decided to leave it off here tonight and go to bed. **

**But I shall update soon, oh faithful readers! But if i get reviews, I might update even faster! Really it depends on my week though. :/ Who knows? Maybe they'll cancel school because of the whole Swine Flu scare...(Lol, such a big inside joke at our school now). **

**Review!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	4. Chapter 3

_Six very painful months later…_

I sat on the window seat that overlooked the ocean, watching as a distant, unsuspecting sail boat floated in the distance, blissfully unaware that just a few miles over was a medieval kingdom full of vampires and other Night World people. In the six months that I'd been there, I still hadn't found out where exactly I was. All I knew was that wherever it was, it had a beautiful beach with lots of sun and extremely loud and obnoxious seagulls flying around. And wherever it was, I knew that it was far from Washington where Delos was.

_Delos…_I wondered, my heart giving a painful lurch. How was he doing? Had he given up his search for me? I hadn't heard any word of him, not even from Alec. But then again, since the moment I'd woken up, Alec hadn't had much to do with me. It was as though he was trying to forget my presence, forget that he'd ever saved my life and that I still existed. But I knew that he was still interested in making an alliance, because sometimes I'd hear him speaking to another vampire—Blade, I soon found out his name to be even though he never looked at me with anything but disgust—about it, shooting back and forth ideas that never got them anywhere.

"Do you want me to pull all of it back or do you want me to pull only part of it back?" Rogue's voice snapped me back into reality as her fingers started to play with my hair, experimenting with different styles.

"However you think it should look," I normally didn't like it when Rogue acted like she was a servant around me, but every time I objected against it she ignored me, telling me that even if I was one of the good guys, it didn't mean that I could let her slack off in work. I quickly realized the truth of her words, because about a month after my arrival here in…well, I didn't know where, a girl had been beaten nearly to death by a werewolf for slacking off a tad bit in her duties. I shuddered, picturing Rogue in that situation and from then on didn't utter a complaint whenever she tidied up my room or did my laundry—although I did try to pick up after myself as much as possible.

"I think you'd look pretty with it partially back," Rogue announced, dropping my auburn hair and heading over to the dresser where all of my limited hair supplies were, picking up a few stuff. "I really wish we could have some hair spray…maybe a blow dryer or a curling iron—you'd look so pretty in curls."

"Uh, thanks," I muttered—I never really was one to like getting dolled up. The only time I ever wanted to look nice was for Delos, but obviously Delos wasn't here. What was he doing now? I wondered, once again retreating into my own little world. Does he miss me? Whatever the answer, I knew that I desperately missed him. I should have insisted that I wanted to stay with him, I thought for about the billionth time that morning—I forgot how many times I'd thought it in the last six months, but I was sure it was some impossible number of times. I should have squashed my desires to go and comfort my parents and tell them I was alright. I could have sent them a letter or maybe even a messenger. I could have done a lot of things differently, but because I hadn't I was stuck here in a kingdom ruled by a crazy ruthless Prince.

"You know before I came here I was studying to become a hair stylist?" Rogue asked as she started to play with my hair again. I perked up a little bit—it was very rare that Rogue ever talked of her previous life; all I really knew about it was that she had a mother and little sister waiting for her.

"Oh?"

"My mom owned a studio," Rogue went on, "So I've played in one since I was little—it was natural for me to wish to do it as a profession. It was actually on the way home from school that the van picked me up…" Her voice trailed off and I didn't try to push the subject further—I knew what happened after that.

We said nothing more as she pulled my hair back and started to stick it up in a more permanent position. As she did, I thought of my own parents. I hadn't seen them in so long—almost an entire year had gone by since the last time I'd seen or heard from them. Now that I thought about it, if I'd insisted that I didn't want to see my parents, what would I be feeling right now? I'd miss them terribly, and I'd have felt guilty for not going to see them when I had the chance. Delos had been right—I needed to go when things were still at peace. Not that we knew that Alec had been in the back ground stirring things up.

Not only was I away from Delos, but I was also had put off my return to my parents.

"Do you miss them?" I asked my voice soft. Rogue's hands paused for a moment before they continued their work. She didn't answer for a long time, merely continued to work on my hair quietly in such a way that I thought that maybe she was upset with me or maybe she had just decided to ignore my question.

"Terribly," Rogue suddenly answered her voice quiet. "But it doesn't hurt as much if I don't think about them."

I swallowed, "How do you do that?"

"I just…concentrate on what I'm doing; try to think in the now. I don't try to think about the past or the future—I just concentrate on the here and now. And when I concentrate on the here and now, I can do my best to protect those who I care about and are still with me." She pulled her fingers away, indicating that she was finished playing with my hair. I turned around and peered into her tired dark brown eyes. She tried to smile, but it came off weak and weary. "At least that's what I do to keep myself going. But I do think about them sometimes at night and it is hard." I nodded mutely, my eyes drifting away from her. She was quiet for a moment and I could feel her penetrating gaze on me the entire time. It was as though she were reading my thoughts, because after a few seconds of silence she asked, "Do you miss him?"

My eyes snapped to hers—just like she rarely talked about her past life, I rarely talked about Delos. It was as though if I talked about him like he wasn't there, it would make the fact all too real. And I'd already spent too many sleepless nights crying for him, wishing that he'd come and save me. I didn't think talking about it would help my situation one bit. But Rogue had told me a little bit about her past life, so I almost felt obligated to tell her more about him. "I miss him with every fiber of my being," I confessed, not at all embarrassed by its sappiness. It was truly how I felt and there was no denying it.

Rogue slowly nodded and hesitated, her mouth open to say something. After a moment she sighed and spit whatever she wanted to ask out. "Would you tell me about him?"

Pain washed through me. Of course I could tell her about him, but not without feeling an immense amount of pain. And what was more was that I knew Delos like no other—I'd seen and felt every thought and feeling that had ever gone through his mind and heart and I knew that some things just couldn't be explained no matter how hard I tried. There were no words for some of the things that described Delos. But looking at her curious eyes, I couldn't help but have a strange feeling that I wanted to tell her, to get it off my chest. "Delos is a true leader—he's someone who has the voice that someone will listen to. He's one of those people who draw people to him without him really knowing it, and he's kind and compassionate—not that you could tell if you were just meeting him, because he does tend to put up a protective shell. He's knowledgeable, sure of himself, and yet he's also vulnerable. He has his flaws of course, like we all do, but he's…" I paused, trying to find a good word that described him as a whole, "he's simply an extraordinary man whom I love with all my heart."

Rogue stared at me with an unreadable expression for a long time, and I started to wonder if I sounded like one of those love-sick crazy nut-jobs who were constantly in la-la land. But considering the past few months, I could see where she might have a point.

But instead of claiming that I was crazy, so simply said, "Wow. You're really telling the truth too,"

"What?"

Rogue shrugged her strong and yet delicate shoulders. "It's just that…you're so honest and straightforward. And you see people for who they are. If someone else told me that about a vampire, I wouldn't have believed them. But coming from you…I believe you."

I relaxed, smiling softly. "Thanks Rogue," I whispered earnestly.

"I'm just glad that I can finally trust someone here," Rogue said, summing up our conversation as she reached down and pulled back the sleeve to her clothes, revealing her small white wrist. "Feeding time for the vampire," She suddenly announced, shoving her wrist under my nose.

I looked at her wrist, at the blood that was flowing freely through her blue veins. "I fed on you yesterday," I objected as calmly as possible—if there was one thing I absolutely hated, it had to take blood from Rogue almost every day.

"Stop worrying about it—I recover fast," Rogue insisted, shoving her wrist more up into my face, knowing that eventually I'd give in to the temptation to gently bite in…

I bit.

The blood flowed freely into my mouth, tasting rich and sweet. Along with the blood, I felt the usual feeling of horrible guilt. I was drinking blood from a human—not only that, but she was one of my closest friends. And I was feeding on her. Every time I drank blood from her wrist, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was taking advantage of her, hurting her because of what she had.

After a few moments of drinking, I could feel that I had gotten enough.

But as I pulled away, the door to my bedroom slammed open, making me quickly and roughly release Rogue and she gasped in pain. Without detecting why my door had been slammed open, I grabbed Rogue's wrist and brought it back close to my face, examining the damage. The bite marks were no longer clean—they'd torn a bit through the flesh. I quickly closed my fingers around her wrist and tightly squeezed, making it act as a temporary tourniquet while the bite marks disappeared. "I'm so sorry," I apologized, the guilt practically over-taking me.

"I'm fine," Rogue insisted, but her voice was strained. I looked up to see her expression, to see if she was telling the truth and that she really was fine…but she wasn't even looking at me. Instead, she was staring wide-eyed in the direction of my door. Not a good sign.

I slowly turned towards my door, not really knowing what to expect and found Prince Alec standing there, his eyes locked on Rogue's wrist. I glanced back down at her wrist to find that although the bite wound had pretty much closed up by now, blood had still flowed freely from the wound—both her arm and my hand was covered in blood. I cleared my throat and glared back up at Prince Alec. "What do you want?" I snapped, thankfully getting his attention. "Or did you just come in here to stare?"

Prince Alec, as usual, looked annoyed by my tone—but then again, when wasn't he annoyed with me? "I actually wanted to inform you of news on Delos," as soon as those words left his mouth, my entire being froze, my heart stopping and re-starting frantically. Every thought I had turned to Delos, my fading image of him coming back clearly in my mind.

I let go of Rogue's now fully-healed wrist and let it drop to her side, shifting myself so that I was between Alec and Rogue. "What about him?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from sounding rude like before. I didn't want to ruin any chance and risk him changing his mind.

Alec's eyebrows rose and for a moment his eyes wandered down my body. I blinked in confusion, looking down at myself. I hadn't really changed anything—I wore a green tunic that had gold embroidery around the edges. Nothing too fancy. And it wasn't like I had any blood on it—the blood had gotten all over our hands. I looked back up at Alec who was still staring and cleared my throat. Alec's eyes swiveled back up to mine, wide with an emotion that I didn't quite understand. "Erm, Delos…right." Instantly he was back to his annoyed, stuck-up self, getting back to business. "I've just received word that Delos is starting to give up."

Give up? The words repeated over and over in my mind, my stomach sinking in dismay. Giving up? He couldn't give up! I was right here, waiting for him! I was still alive! Didn't he see that the accident wasn't really an accident at all? That I was still waiting for him to come and rescue me? "You're lying," I found myself hollowly saying, "He'd never give up looking for me!"

Alec shrugged his broad shoulders. "It's not his fault—the team he was with has given up and has insisted that he give up too. He's not too happy about it, from what I hear." A strange smile played out across Alec's face and a deep, almost maniacal laugh started to rumble through his chest. "Actually, he's so upset, he's making himself sick." I stared at him wide-eyed in horror. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about this—all I knew was that in my mind I kept thinking, Not Delos. Delos wouldn't do that—he's strong. He would never…

But Alec, although he looked like he thought this was some big joke, didn't look like he was lying. "Your source is wrong," I found myself insisting, "Delos wouldn't do that…"

"I think you over estimate him," Alec interrupted, his irritation once again taking over his expression. "You have so much trust in him—it's admirable, but I don't think you know him as well as you think you do." I wanted to insist that I certainly knew more about him that he did since Delos was my soulmate, but somehow I didn't think that it was a wise idea to mention that. "Do you think that maybe, if I sent him word that I knew where you were, that he'd agree to an alliance?"

I suddenly knew why Alec thought this was a joke—he thought Delos was weak enough to give into temptation, do anything to get me back. "No, I don't think so!" I snapped, taking an angry step forward, "I know he wouldn't! It doesn't matter how much he wants me back, he won't make me un-happy!"

Furry over-took Alec's expression and he closed the distance between us, roughly grasping my chin between his thumb and forefinger. "You don't know what he'll do," Alec insisted, his voice angrier than I'd ever heard it, "I think he will comply to my wishes—you don't know the lengths a man will go to obtain the things he cares about. You might not have your say in this matter,"

I pushed my hands against his chest, not at all liking the way he was looking at me all of a sudden. "Let me go Alec," I demanded, but his grip only tightened, "Let me go right now or you'll be sorry!" Alec stared at me for a long moment before finally to my relief he released me.

"You have no idea," Alec whispered, "You'll see—Delos isn't the knight-in-shinning-armor that you seem to think he is." With that, Alec turned and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

The moment the door was firmly closed, the muscles in my legs suddenly gave out and I crashed to the floor, shaking and shivering uncontrollably. "Maggie, are you alright?" Rogue was instantly at my side, her hand on my shoulder, trying to steady me, "Are you ok? Do you need anything? Can I…"

"I'm fine," I insisted, breathing in and out and trying to concentrate on my muscles to steady them. "It just…" I looked up into her concerned eyes, gulping with uncertainty. "Did you see the look he gave me? I've…never received a look like that." I slowly looked away from her and back at the closed door. Alec was planning something sinister, that I knew now. His look had been full of hunger, of desire…plus the additional anger that frightened me more than anything else. Whatever Alec was planning, it wasn't anything good.

And Delos…if Alec's source was right, then I needed to get to Delos before he made any rash decisions. I needed to reach him somehow. I needed to let him know I was alright, that he needed to look deeper into the accident.

I remembered the time Delos reached me using telepathy. I wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but I knew that somehow I needed to reach him…at least long enough to tell him to take a deeper look at all of this. And then…

I looked back up at Rogue's concerned expression, remembering her words from before. "You said that you concentrate on the now," I whispered, resolve suddenly starting to form in my mind. Rogue looked at me cautiously, her dark eyes telling me that she thought I was getting off my rocker. It wasn't the first time someone had looked at me that way.

"I don't see how that has anything to do with what's going on," She admitted.

"You said that you concentrated on protecting those you love," She looked even more confused, but she nodded. I glanced at the door, remembering that there was a guard there and lowered my voice so that only she could hear it. "How do you feel about escaping from here and getting some help?"

The look on Rogue's face clearly told me that she now thought that I'd gone insane. "That's not possible," She whispered back, her voice full of uncertainty, hope, and fear.

I shook my head. "There is always a way—we just need to find it." I paused, then emphasized, "And we can find it—we just need to come up with a plan. It's time to stop playing trapped princess—it time that we took action. Are you with me?" I felt like I was talking to my soccer team again, encouraging them to face their fears and go up against a much stronger and faster team.

And it seemed to work on Rogue too, because after a moment of hesitation, she nodded. "Let's do this." I smiled and got up, heading to my bed and sitting down on the edge of it. "Where do we start?" She asked, following me.

I looked up at her as I reached over for the towel that was lying across the fur blanket from the last night's bath, quickly wiping my hands of the blood and handing it to her. "We contact Delos."

KKK

Darkness surrounded him once more, just like it always did back before he ever met Maggie. But instead of feeling comfortable, it felt burdensome and claustrophobic. Delos walked through it, trying to find a way out and yet not even sure if he himself was getting anywhere.

This is pointless, he thought, there's no way I can get out of here without Maggie.

But Maggie wasn't coming back. He'd spent six months tearing apart any bit of evidence, searching the entire area for her and coming up empty. Everyone had tried, maybe not as diligently as he, Miles and Jeanne had, but they still tried. And they didn't find anything either. Maggie had simply just disappeared. He wanted to keep going, start to tear the world down trying to find her, but the rest of them were losing hope. Even Miles and Jeanne had lost hope of ever finding her.

He couldn't do this alone, he knew—if he were to search the world alone, he might end up finding her about a hundred years later, buried in the ground. So he was now at a loss, all alone in his castle with no idea where to go now. Miles and Jeanne had returned home. Miles pretended that he had no idea that Maggie had left, and although their parents were happy to have him back from the dead, they were still upset about Maggie's disappearance. But they didn't do anything useful either.

Delos stopped walking, glaring down at his feet as tears once again threatened to surface. _Maggie…I can't do this alone…I don't know where to go now!_ He felt stupid talking to himself, but at the moment he didn't care. All he wanted was to have Maggie back safe in his arms. _Give me some clue!_

That's when he heard it. That voice, faint but there, like a beacon in the night, shooting light into his darkened world—not that the scenery around him changed, but suddenly all of his hopes flared back to life.

_Delos? _

"Maggie!" Delos turned, squinting his eyes, trying to see her. When that didn't work, he tried to find her presence but once again found him to be alone. But he could hear her… "Where are you?"

_I…don't know. _

"How are you reaching me?" He could tell it was telepathic—maybe it was a soulmate thing?

_I…much strength…no time to explain…_

Delos paused, trying to translate that. Obviously her signal was weak, so that must mean that she didn't have the strength to explain why. "Are you sure you don't know where you are? Anything look familiar? Any clues?"

…_beach…_

"Beach? There's a beach?" Delos knew that Washington had a beach not too far from where she'd crashed, but wouldn't he have found her if she'd been there?

_It's warm and sunny too….not in Washington. _

"Are you alone?"

_No…Delos, I don't….signal weakening…need to listen to me…car crash….accident….__**not as it seems.**_

"Not as it seems?" Delos echoed, now thoroughly confused, "What isn't as it seems?"

_Look deeper…__**not**__ an accident…all a set up by…._

Silence. "Maggie?" Delos called, listening as hard as he could for an answer, "Are you there? Maggie? Maggie, talk to me!"

That's when Delos slammed awake. The dim sunlight filtered in through his windows, lighting his bedroom softly. In the distance he could hear a bird singing, oblivious to the inner turmoil he felt. He slowly sat up, trying to gather his wild and confused thoughts, replaying the dream over and over again in his head. Not as it seems…the accident not really an accident…a set up?

I knew it; part of his mind hissed angrily, she couldn't have just disappeared without a trace unless it was a set up! How could I not have figured it out before? I'm so stupid!

But another part of his mind was analyzing, replaying the accident over and over in his mind. Miles said an animal got into their path and that he slammed on the brakes to stop the car from hitting it. But the car skidded and it hit the animal anyways, causing the entire car to spin out of control.

But had they found the dead animal?

Things that hadn't started to click started to click now. Delos suddenly bolted out of his bed, heading for the closet. He suddenly knew. He knew exactly where she was.

And this time nothing was going to stop him from getting to her.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**LOL TIME SKIP! :D Sorry the very begining of this chapter was a little bit boring, but it kind of has to do with future events. **

**Ok, so I only got one review for the last chapter--a very passionete review though, and I enjoy those. SKY, you are awesome; you're so enthusiastic about this, and I love it! i always look forward to your reviews!**

**now to adress the issue of only one review (although it was an awesome one). I'm not a writter who thrives off of reviews, so I'm not going to threaten not to write anymore or whatever. Because, really, its not going to be one of my majorly long stories, so I'm going to keep at it. I'm already working on the next chapter. But still...I do like reviews. **

**Questions? Comments?**

**REVIEW!**

**Love, **

**Alice**


	5. Chapter 4

"So let me get this straight," Rashel spoke clearly, obviously frustrated with Delos's persistence. "You want us to drive you…where, exactly?" Delos looked down at the map of the United States that he held in his hands—one he'd snatched from the car before he started the conversation with these two. Texas….no, that wasn't it…Nevada? No, not it either….it started with a 'c', that much he did know…

"Does either of the Carolina's have hot weather at this time of year?" He questioned, remembering that Maggie had told him there was both an ocean and that it was hot where she was.

"No," Rashel answered as calmly as possible.

"Then its right here," He pointed to the state of California. Rashel blinked at it for a moment.

"You want us to drive you clear across the coast," She clarified, trying to keep her voice even, "California is still a pretty big state…do you have any idea where she might be?"

Delos nodded once again, "Just outside of San Francisco; it's a place like where I live, but…sunny and it's by a beach." When Rashel didn't look convinced, Delos let out an exasperated sigh, "Look, I'd know it if I saw it; she's there, ok?"

"And you know this," Quinn, who learned against the car, silent up till this point started, "Because you talked with her in a vision?"

"Yes," Delos answered truthfully, looking directly at Quinn to show him how dead serious he was about it, "I know how it sounds, but it's true." Delos glanced at Quinn's skeptical soulmate, "If Rashel was in her situation, wouldn't you take the chance and go after her?"

Rashel instantly snorted, "Like I ever would be," She mumbled, but both Delos and Quinn ignored her. Instead Quinn stood there, considering it seriously.

"I'd rip the entire state up," He finally replied, his face completely serious.

"So will you?" Delos, for once in his life, was pleading with another person, begging him with his eyes to help him.

Quinn stared at him for a long moment before he sighed, "Alright—hop in."

"What?" Rashel asked, whirling to give him a look of confusion. Quinn shrugged his broad shoulders, opening up the driver's seat door.

"Either we take him or he steals a car himself and it therefore a dangerous menace to everyone on the road."

Rashel didn't argue with that—instead she nodded her head and climbed into the front passenger seat. Delos sighed, his entire body relaxing from relief and quickly climbed into the back seat. "Thank you so much," Delos gushed, "When do you think we'll get there?"

"Oh no," Rashel groaned, "We're not going to play the 'are we there yet' game, are we? Because if we are, please drop me off at the nearest gas station so I can call someone from Circle Daybreak to come save me from this madness."

Quinn ignored her, "If we don't stop, we should be there by early morning…maybe dawn if we speed." Quinn started the car and pulled away from the curb quickly, making Delos fall back against the seat from the thrust.

They continued on in silence—Delos had noticed from his many trips with these two that they didn't really listen to music with one another—instead they normally touched each other's hands softly, communicating through their minds. Each time it gave Delos a pang as he wistfully thought of Maggie, and he quickly learned to stare faithfully out the window until they got to their destination. _But I'll get her back by tomorrow,_ he thought, his eyebrows creasing over his eyes, _no one will stop me_. Quinn had been right—if they'd said no, he would have stolen a car and driven himself there himself. Rashel might think he was insane, but he didn't care.

Now there was only one other person he needed to tell—he hadn't told anyone where he was going; he'd merely dressed in his modern outfit, got on a horse, and rode out to where Rashel and Quinn agreed to meet with him, where he explained everything.

Miles.

"Do you think I could borrow a…" He paused, trying to remember the word, "Cellular phone?"

"A cell phone?" Rashel asked, not trying to mock him at all just clarifying it for herself, "Yeah, you can use mine." She handed him back her I-phone, and when Delos merely stared at it, she sighed and asked for the number. After giving her the number, she pressed the talk button and handed it back to him.

A split second after he put the phone to his ear, Miles picked up on the other line. "Hello?" He sounded tired—he'd started college again and was probably…'studying'.

"I know where Maggie is," Delos cut to the point, not bothering to greet him.

"What?" Miles instantly perked up and yet Delos could hear the skepticism in his voice, "Where?"

"Just outside of San Francisco."

"Why would she be there?"

"Because it was all a set up."

"What was a set up?"

"The accident." Delos was aware of both Quinn and Rashel listening in, but he ignored them. "Look, I don't know how it happened…but while I was asleep, we sort of…communicated to one another. I don't know how, so don't ask me how. But she told me things that, upon further reflection, led to a simple conclusion,

"A few days before the accident, Prince Alec visited, requesting an alliance between our kingdoms. But Alec hates humans, so he wasn't at all happy with the way I ran things and who I had for my wife. So I basically told him to get out, but if Alec was desperate enough, he'd go to lengths to kidnap my wife."

"But how do you know that it was a set up?"

"First of all, because Maggie told me it was a set up, secondly because if anyone had any sort of motivation to do it would be Alec and thirdly, was there any dead animal at the scene?"

"Well, not that I know of…"

"Exactly. You hit it fast enough that even if it hadn't been instantly killed, it wouldn't have made it far—probably to the side of the road—before it killed over and died."

Miles was silent for a very long time, "Okay, maybe you have a point," Miles agreed, "But I don't understand his motivation…."

"He wants to make an alliance—he needs an alliance in order for his kingdom to survive. He probably thought that by kidnapping Maggie he could bribe me into agreeing to it."

"But wouldn't you have heard from him sooner if he had?"

Delos was silent, thinking it over. "Maybe," He admitted, "I'm not clear on all the details. But it's my best lead."

Miles sighed on the other end. "Sometimes I wonder if my sister has really fallen for a crazy man," He mumbled, "Alright, when can I expect you to come by to pick me up? I assume that you're with Rashel and Quinn…"

"We're not going to get you."

"What?"

"I called you to let you know what's going on…and to tell you that if you don't hear from me in a few days, call Thierry and ask him to give you some reinforcements."

"But I want to help you!" Miles protested, "Besides, I can't ask a Night World elder that…"

"Yes you can—tell him Delos is asking for it; he still owes me for saving the world."

"I didn't know you had that deal with him,"

"I do now."

Miles was silent for a long time, and after a moment Delos wondered if maybe he'd hung up on him, but finally he heard Miles sigh in the background. "Alright—but you come back here with the both of you safe and sound, alright? I'd prefer it if we avoided a little mini-war."

"I'll see what I can do." With that, Delos hung up.

KKK

I pulled out the laundry bag, rapidly firing quiet instructions to Rogue as I did so, "Once I leave, take this down into the kitchen and stuff it with as much food and supplies as you can, enough so that no one will notice. Then stash it somewhere, somewhere where no one will find it. Then get the extra servant's clothes and wait for me. We're going to have to move fast once I do this…otherwise we might get caught." I stopped and stared at her straight in the eyes, looking completely serious. "I don't know what they do to runaways here—it might have been even worse than the Black Kingdom's. But whatever happens, don't stop moving unless captured. We'll deal with it if that happens."

Rogue was frightened, I could tell. She stood there, staring at me with her wide, dark eyes. "I'm scared," She whispered, her voice shaking weakly.

I nodded, "I am too."

"I'm not ready to face this…."

I sighed—neither was I. I'd done it before, but this wasn't like before at the same time. I didn't have a soulmate here who was guaranteed to protect me if I was caught. Here, I might actually get killed. "If there's one thing I've learned," I said, keeping my voice confident even though I myself wasn't sure if this plan would work the way I wanted it to, "It's that you don't get to chose when you face your fears—if you did, you'd never face them."

Rogue stared at me for a long moment before she nodded. "Alright," She shakily said, "Let's do this."

I walked away from the bed and used my strength to pick up a particularly heavy wooden chair, "Are you sure you can lift this?" I asked, feeling its weight—how was she supposed to lift this above her head?

Rogue nodded and took the chair easily from me. "I've picked up and moved these things around many times since I've come here—I might not have the killer strength a vampire has, but I've got enough to knock someone out with a heavy object."

I had to admit, at that moment I admired her. Sometimes I couldn't help but be reminded of myself whenever I looked at her—she was terrified to death, but she was willing to go along with my crazy plan. And I had to admit, it was a crazy plan. I'd broken into a castle full of Night World people, and now I was going to break out of one with a human in tow. I backed up and sat on my bed, pulling back my skirt to reveal my carefully shaved tan legs just above the knees. It might not have been something to impress a human boy who saw girls in mini-skirts almost every day, but in a kingdom where the men thought it was sexy if they saw a woman's ankles, it was enough to drive a vampire guard mad.

Delos, I thought, trying to suppress an amused smile, would be furious with me if he knew what I was doing. But how else was I supposed to distract the guard long enough for Rogue to sneak up and hit him over the head?

I nodded to Rogue, who had backed up into the dark corner behind the door before I broke out into a pained expression and cried out just loud enough to attract the guard's attention, my hand grasping my ankle tightly.

I kept it up until a moment later the door opened and the guard walked in, his expression irritated….

Until he got a good look, and then his expression went blank.

I smiled weakly, "Oh good, you're here," I kept my voice strained, and I winced as I shifted my ankle a bit, "I was trying to reach for something and I fell… Say, do you know anything about first aid?"

The guard said nothing, only gulped and nodded his head, his eyes glued to my exposed legs. "Oh, then I suppose I don't need to call for a doctor—close the door please; I don't want anyone else to know. I don't think it's necessary for them to know, don't you?" The guard mutely nodded and closed the door behind him and slowly made his way towards me. In my peripheral vision I could see Rogue moving a silent as a cat, but I refused to look at her. I didn't want to give the guard any reason to suspect anything other than I needed help.

"Thank you so much," I breathed as he knelt down, taking my foot gently in his hands and started to massage the ankle—it actually did feel good. "I'm so glad that you're here to help me," it was then that I knew that Rogue was in the position, and I sighed. "It's just too bad…you really are such a nice guy." The guard looked confused for a moment and just then I yanked my foot out of his grasp and threw myself onto the bed, jerking my knees up to my body to keep out of the large wooden chair that Rogue threw down onto the guard's head.

I heard a sharp yelp and then two loud THUMP's and I lay there for a moment, listening to Rogue's heavy breathing before I slowly sat back up. There at the foot of my bed lay the guard—amazingly, there wasn't any blood. But the chair had busted. I grinned up into Rogue's pale face. "Well, that was an adventure—ever consider being a wrestler? They hit people over the head with chairs all the time—you could make a living off of it."

Rogue gulped and closed her eyes, "Thanks but no thanks," She breathed, "Besides, I'd say that you're the one who needs to take up acting—you had him completely mesmerized."

I shrugged, "It's something every girl knows how to do," I got off the bed, "I really do feel bad for him though. How long do you think he'll be out?"

Rogue shrugged, "A pretty long while, I'm guessing. I hit him pretty hard."

I nodded my head silently—I really hoped he didn't get into trouble for letting us escape when it really wasn't his fault. But there was nothing I could do about that—I could only do so much. I leaned down and pulled the wooden sword from the hilt of at the guard's side and slid it carefully into my skirt, concealed from the outside world. "Let's drag him into the closet," I said, "And then you can get some clothes to put into the bag so that you can say you were just getting my dirty laundry or something."

We each grabbed one of his limp arms and started to drag him into the closet, where we grabbed a bunch of my tunics and covered him up with it. "That should do it," I breathed, "Just grab a few tunics from the hangers and stuff them in the bag—it doesn't matter if they're clean or not." Rogue nodded and grabbed some and headed out of the closet.

I stared at the pile of tunics, wondering if it was really all that noticeable if someone walked in—teenagers had messy closets anyways.

Just as I was leaving the closet, the door to my bedroom opened and a dark, familiar figure walked into the room, his head held high like any other noble. I froze, my eyes drifting to Rogue who had been in the process of stuffing my tunics into the bag but had also frozen in place, staring wide eyed at the man.

Blade.

I forced myself to look calm and collected—it was natural if Rogue looked terrified, because she was a servant and I'd noticed that servants always looked terrified whenever they saw a Night Person…sometimes those looks were directed at me while I walked past. But I was the one who needed to look like nothing unusual was going on—I was the one who needed to make the impression.

So I threw a bored look at Blade, who gave me his usual disgusted expression. "What do you want?" I asked, keeping it nonchalant. Blade glanced at Rogue and sneered.

"What are you looking at?" He snapped at her, "Hurry up with the clothes and get out." Rogue nodded sharply and quickly stuffed the rest of the tunic in the bag and hurried out of the room, trying to give Blade as much of a wide berth as possible. Blade hardly noticed her. Instead he kept his eyes on me until the door closed.

"What do you want?" I repeated, allowing myself to sound irritated, "You let my food run off,"

"Haven't you already fed today?" He asked instead of answering my question as he sat down on one of the chairs—it was at that moment that I noticed we'd left the broken chair on the floor. The moment I noticed it, Blade noticed it as well. He threw me a suspicious glance. I looked at the chair for a moment and shrugged.

"Human's are so clumsy, aren't they?" I asked, "I figured that since I don't get too many visitors, I didn't need to have so many chairs. She was supposed to be moving it, but it dropped and, well…there's the result. She'll be up here with help later to clean it up." Blade didn't look convinced, but at the same time he didn't seem all too concerned about it.

"Where's the guard?" he asked instead. I once again shrugged.

"I don't leave the room much—I haven't seen or heard from him all day." Blade looked a little alarmed and black suspicion was forming on his face. But I kept myself bored-looking, trying to keep the panic from showing on my face. If there was one thing that Delos taught me, it was to keep my emotions from showing when I needed to. And now I needed my emotions to stay buried. "I'm going to ask you again—what do you want? I would appreciate it if you'd leave so that I could get some sleep."

Blade hesitated, obviously sensing that something was off, but he didn't push it further. "Prince Alec would like a word with you," he said. Mentally I smacked myself in the head—he wasn't part of the plan. I was supposed to have followed Rogue into the kitchen in an hour. I didn't want to be tied down by a useless conversation with Alec. "I'm here to take you to him."

"Now?" I questioned, sounding bored and irritated.

Blade's expression hardened into ice. "Now."

KKK

Blade led me to a heavy-looking wooden door at the end of the long, dimly lit hallway. "Here you are," Blade snapped, opening the door for me and stepping aside so that I could walk in. I stared at the even more dimly lit bedroom for a moment, trying to steady myself before I looked up at Blade.

"Thank you," I said. Blade sneered and rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Squaring my shoulders, I walked past him and into the dark bedroom. The moment I was in, the door behind me closed, making the room even darker.

I stood there at the door for a long time, looking around the room. It was like a bigger version of my room, except that the curtains were drawn. "Prince Alec?" I called into the room, keeping my voice from sounding too nervous. The moment I had walked into the room, I had a feeling that something very bad was going to happen, something that might throw off the plan just a bit. My hand went to my hip, feeling the wooden knife pressed against my thigh.

"Why do you always sound like a confined prisoner whenever you talk to me?" Alec's voice asked, coming from the right. I whirled around to look at him, my eyes wide with surprise. Alec sat in a cushioned chair, a glass in his hands as his eyes lingered on me, glowing in the darkness.

"Maybe because I am your prisoner," I stated calmly. The way Alec was looking at me frightened me. There was a hunger there, almost desperate.

Something seriously wrong was going to throw off my plans completely.

Alec slowly grinned, placing the glass on the table. "Maybe so," He said, rising from his seat and walking over to me…no, stalking over to me.

I took a step back and watched as Alec's eyes flickered to the movement. "What did you want to see me about?" I asked, feeling cold from the frantic fear that was bubbling up inside of me. I gulped as Alec's eyes focused on mine and a wicked look came into them.

"Nowhere to run," he murmured, "Maybe there's a reason why Delos loves you so much…you're really quite a trophy…" And with that he closed the distance between us, his mouth crashing onto mine, his hands gripping my waist tightly in a deadly grasp.

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**DUN DUN DUN, GASP! D: LOL! I can't wait for your reactions to this....I think I have the jist of SKY's reaction, and I'm looking forward to it. Sorry its a short chapter though--I was going to make it longer, but then I figured that this was a big cliffie, and....well, I couldn't resist. If there's one thing I'm known for, its major cliffies that make people get pissed off with me for. :D But I enjoy it....**

**....I seriosuly have a twisted sense of humor sometimes. For example, I read this play where the commander was raping all the woman...but in my mind they all had funny accents and the way it was worded made me start laughing like crazy. So I told my partner, who apparently hadn't read the play how funny it was, and when she did her play analysis instead of writting about how tragic it was (because it was a tragedy....I just thought it was hillarious) she put how much of a comedy it was. and when the teacher was like, "What? Are you insane?" she got ticked off and instantly yelled at me for it.....well, she should have read the play. She knows what a twisted sense of humor I've got......I tend to find funny things in almost every tragedy....except for Holochaust movies. Boy in the Stripped Pajama's was tragic....I can't watch that movie ever again. **

**But enough of my rant. I'll probably update the next chapter soon. Just because it'll be so fun to write....BWAHAHAHA I've got plans....**

**I love being the author sometimes. -wicked grin- I control EVERYTHING. It happened because I SAID SO! :D**

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	6. Chapter 5

_What?_ Was all I could think for a moment. I was frozen—time moved in slow motion. It was as if everything had shut down inside of me. All I could do was wonder what was happening. Every thought about our escape flew out of my mind instantly and my mind went blank. All I could think was, _why is Alec kissing me?_

Subconsciously I noticed him pulling me towards the bed, but it wasn't until he pushed me onto it that that I snapped out of my mental breakdown. I suddenly noticed how low his hands were going, the way he was kissing me like I was food…

I pulled my mouth away from his, "Stop that!" I hissed, too angry to be yelling…yet. But instead of getting off of me like I wanted him to, he only started to trace my jaw with kisses.

That's when I started to seriously struggle. I moved and tried to wiggle out from underneath him, but he merely moved with me. I pushed against him, but he ignored it.

He was a whole lot stronger.

"Alec, stop it! Let me go!" I shouted, anger now mixing with fear. Alec chuckled as if this whole thing was a joke.

"Maybe I won't hand you over to Delos after all," Alec mused, "Maybe I should keep you all to myself…"

"You'd better stop it right now," I warned as Delos crossed my mind. I could just imagine his reaction to this, because when I got to him I'd tell him straight away. There would definitely be no alliance after this.

"Or what?" Alec laughed, "You'll sic Prince Charming on me? Don't make me laugh—he doesn't even know where you are!"

I didn't think mentioning that I'd given Delos clues telepathically was a smart move so I refrained from doing so. But Alec had started to continue, kissing my neck hungrily while his hands started to roam.

My heart was beating almost painfully against my ribs and my breathing became irregular, and before I knew what I was doing my entire mind locked onto one thing; Delos. _"DELOS!"_ I screamed both telepathically and aloud. I didn't care who heard, all that mattered was that Delos heard me. He might still be in Washington, a small voice reminded me, but I ignored it. I was concentrating so hard, my mind throbbed with the beginnings of a major headache. _"DELOS!"_

"He's not here to hear you!" Alec finally snapped, "He can't save you! You're mine now!"

That broke my concentration. I snapped my gaze to him, the anger finally drowning out all fear. "Let's get one thing straight _buddy,_" I spat venomously, "I'm _not_ yours and I will _never_ be yours. _Nothing_ you could _ever_ do or say will _ever_ change that!" I narrowed my eyes dangerously, "And he will _always_ come for me!"

"How do you know?" Alec demanded, furious. "He's a vampire—he's probably already moved on…"

"Because he's my soulmate," I blurted without thinking, "I know him better than…"

"Soulmate?" Alec looked so stunned, it instantly shut me up. No longer were there anger, irritation and lust in his eyes. Alec suddenly looked dazed, as though I'd shoved some kind of stunning powder into his face. For a moment he looked like broken almost, like a little lost child. "Is that so?"

I hesitated and then nodded reluctantly. Alec stared at me for a moment before chuckling bitterly. "It won't last—it never does."

"How do you know?" I asked, but not angrily.

Alec's expression cleared, becoming unreadable. "Because I once had a soulmate."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. Alec, angry Alec had a soulmate? Was that even possible? I couldn't imagine him ever loving anyone. "What…what happened?" I asked, hardly aware that I had.

"It was a long time ago—back when my father was still alive. She was a slave—I met her while she was cleaning my bedroom. And we fell in love with one touch.

"But father didn't approve—he didn't want his son to be in love with vermin. So he gave me a choice—let him kill her, or I do it myself." Alec stopped, taking a shaky breath, "There was no other option and I couldn't bear it if my father killed her. So I did it. And she let me. She just stood there, her neck exposed to my fangs…and she held me lovingly while I sucked the life from her." His voice grew angrier and angrier with every word. Now he glared at me, his lips curled into a snarl. "Why should Delos get to be with you?" Why should he get to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after with his _soulmate_?" He spat it as though it were a curse, "Why?" He demanded, shaking me violently, "Tell me why!"

He was completely unstable I realized, fear mixing with pity. I couldn't' think of what to say that might get him to release me and come back to his senses, but the longer I lay there speechless the angrier he got. "TELL ME WHY!" He shouted.

I couldn't take it any longer. I reached into my skirt and pulled out the wooden dagger and in the blink of an eye I pressed it's tip into his chest, right over the heart without actually piercing his skin. Alec's face froze, his eyes wide with shock and surprise. "Because," I shakily answered in a breathless voice, "If you don't I'll stake you right here, right now."

Alec, for once, was speechless and I was in the position of total control. "Get off me," I ordered, trying out my new power. Alec instantly got up and I followed, keeping the tip pressed firmly against his chest. "I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but that doesn't mean that it has to be that way for me." I didn't know if Alec was listening to me, but I didn't care. I reached down and pulled Alec's sword from his hilt and held it's tip up to his neck, "I'm going to go to him now," I whispered, "Its been fun, but I think I'll take my leave now."

Alec stared at me incredulously, "You're insane," He blurted, "Do you seriously think you can just waltz out of here?"

"Maybe," I said, my mind working fast, trying to come up with a plan as I went.

Just then the door burst open and Blade strode angrily in, a few guards behind him…and stopped cold, frozen to the spot. I glanced from the guards to Alec, an idea forming in my mind. "Turn around," I hissed. Alec scowled and yet obeyed without question. I placed one dagger's tip at his back and the other at his neck. "May I help you?" I snarled at Blade and the guards.

"Let him go, Maggie." Blade kept his voice even, but I could see the surprise—and maybe even respect—in his eyes.

"Oh I will once I get what I want," I answered back calmly, "But if I don't, he'll be dead before you can blink." I paused, suddenly wondering why Blade had known to charge in here with a bunch of guards. "How did you know?" I asked suspiciously.

"The guard you hit over the head woke up and informed me immediately." Blade answered, "So what is it you want?"

I glanced at the wooden daggers in each of their hands. "You can start by lowering the daggers," I ordered.

A scowl crossed Blade's dark features but nevertheless he nodded to the guards before dropping his.

I waited till they'd all dropped their daggers before issuing my next order. "Kick them away." Reluctantly, they obeyed.

Wow this is fun, I thought in amusement. I was in complete control. "Now let us pass." Blade instantly tensed.

"Are you insane?" he snarled, absolutely furious.

"Yup," I answered—there wasn't really any point in arguing on that one any longer. Maybe I was insane.

Blade looked like he was about to screw it and attack, regardless if I killed Alec or not. I pressed the wood closer to Alec's neck. "I'm serious about this Blade," I warned.

I met Blade's eyes, keeping my face as serious as possible while thinking, it feels so good to be the one in power. Finally Blade cursed and nodded to the guards.

"Move," I ordered Alec, digging the point of the dagger into his back. Alec, obviously not happy with the arrangements, snarled but nevertheless moved forward.

As we passed the guards, I called back, "Oh, and if any of you follow me, I'll gladly kill him."

KKK

I led Alec down the corridors, heading for the kitchen where I knew Rogue was waiting. The entire way there, anyone who passed stopped cold when they saw the position I had their prince in. but no one made a move to stop us. Human servants looked shocked and confused, and yet pleased at the same time.

"You'll regret this Maggie; mark my words you'll wish you never tried this," Alec warned in his most dangerous voice.

"Looking forward to it," I answered simply as we entered into the empty kitchen—it was long after dinner, so most of the servants were either heading to bed or just tiding up a few rooms for the next day. "Stop," I ordered. Alec stopped, hissing in fury as he did so. I ignored him.

Keeping the daggers pressed against his neck and back, I called out into the empty kitchen, "You can come out now Rogue—don't worry about this loser, I've got it under control."

Ever so reluctantly, a neighboring cabinet opened up and Rogue scooted out, her eyes wide with horror. "What are you doing?" She asked, her voice frightened, "Are you nuts?"

"That's what I want to know," Alec grumbled, and I continued to ignore him. Instead, I addressed Rogue.

"He's our hostage and our ticket out of here." I answered her, "Are you ready?"

Rogue looked suspiciously at Alec, but nodded her head and turned around, pulling the bag out of the cabinet. I could smell the food in there, most of which would be eaten by Rogue since I didn't really need human food. But I could also smell the rich, wild scent of water and leather inside, and I assumed that she'd grabbed some canteens as well.

"Alright then, lead the way." Rogue had planned the area where we could get out—since I already had the Prince for hostage, I figured I didn't need a disguise. I'd just use Alec till I was about to make my escape.

I quickly guided Alec after Rogue, following through the kitchen door and into the empty of Night People court yard. And yet there were many slaves watching in awe as we headed to a hut that stood in the corner.

As we approached the hut, a familiar and yet horrid smell drifted into my nostrils, making me groan. "We're not going down the pipes again, are we?" Rogue glanced back at me in surprise.

"You've done this before?" She asked, clearly never expecting someone like me to be hanging around in the pipes that guided bodily waste into the…did they have a moat or a river? I wasn't sure what they had here since I'd never been outside the walls. Or the castle, for that matter.

"It's a long, disgusting story." I told her, indicating that I didn't want to revisit the experience—frankly I didn't want to go through it again either.

We entered the empty hut and looked down into a hole that could just barely slide the both of us through. "Nice," Alec sarcastically commented, reminding me that he was still along. Rogue glanced at me.

"Are we keeping him?" She asked her voice barely above a whisper. I watched the muscles in Alec's body tense and I knew what he was thinking.

"We're not going to kill him, if that's what you mean." I answered her. "But no, the journey with him ends here." Before Alec could ask any questions, I raised the hilt of the dagger and slammed it down over his head as hard as I could—which was pretty hard considering I had rock hard muscles from soccer. And I was told soccer would never benefit me later in life…ha.

Alec slumped to the ground—unlike the guard, there was blood spilling from a gash in the back of his head. "A nice little memento of our visit together," I mumbled, not at all feeling sorry for this man.

"Did you kill him?" Rogue squeaked.

"Nah just knocked him out pretty good. But we need to hurry—the guards will figure something out any moment now." Instantly a look crossed Rogue's face, one that was filled with worry and guilt. "What's wrong?" I asked instantly.

"What about the others?" She whispered, casting a look towards the door of the hut.

"Already have that figured out—when we get out, we'll contact Circle Daybreak. They've got some people who can get them all out safely without drawing too much attention from the human world." Rogue looked at me, her dark eyes piercing.

"And you trust this organization?" she asked quietly.

I shrugged, "Well they protected my soulmate from the Night World and helped us save the world, so yeah. I trust them." Rogue's eyes widened a bit but instead of firing a thousand questions—I hadn't exactly told her about our role in saving the world, so naturally she had questions—she merely nodded her head and looked down at the hole. I sighed and walked up to it, looking down into its black depths. "Let's do this thing," I said, trying to sound as confident as possible before I let myself drop into the hole.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**I actually had this chapter done last night. The only reason I didn't put it up was because I thought I was going to write some of Delos's point of view, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that next chapter will be a Delos chapter. This was Maggie's little solo chapter. :D**

**NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE EPIC!**

**But its so funny, because I listen to music while I write, and most of the time I use the Dark Knight soundtrack, and it TOTALLY matches this. I'll be writting and the music will fit and its all intense and I'm sitting there absolutly loving it....lol.**

**Yes. I have random rants. They're fun, ok? And it gives you a little more insight into my strange mind...**

**Now, I've had some questions on wether I'll do more Night World fanfics. the answer is I don't know yet. It really depends on if I get a good idea. I was thinking about a Delos and Maggie one for a while since there weren't any, but at first I couldn't come up with a plan. And then I started playing Super Mario Smash Brothers Brawl in Wii, and then I got the two Princes (Ike and um....don't remember the other guys name, but he's pretty cool) and I was like, "HOT PRINCE DELOS!" and then I had my idea for this story. don't ask me why I got it from that, but I did. Because I'm awesome.**

**So I'll see whether I get any more ideas. At the end of this story, I might even post a little bit of my story....just because I'm also editing that one at the same time.**

**-sigh- being a writter can be so hecktic sometimes.**

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	7. Chapter 6

"Turn here!" Delos suddenly ordered sharply and Quinn instantly slowed down, but didn't turn off the highway.

"There's no road here," Rashel insisted, "Are you sure…?"

"Is there a road leading up to the pass where I live?" Delos reminded her—Rashel didn't say another word after that, merely nodded to Quinn who roughly turned off the road with a sharp turn, the car suddenly bouncing around like crazy from hitting the uneven surface.

Delos sat back in the seat, his hands gripping the edges of it to keep from being flung around against the seat belt and he nervously glanced at the clock on the dashboard.

6:45 in the morning. The rising sun was glinting off the ocean surface in the distance—it might have been a peaceful setting if the car wasn't rocking madly.

Delos could feel his stomach start to bunch up more in anticipation and fear—about nine hours ago, he'd heard Maggie's distressed voice calling his name distinctly in his mind…twice. Since then he'd been trying to reach her, but no longer was he able to get to her. She was no longer concentrating solely on him—which worried him. He didn't expect for Maggie's life to revolve around him of course—the whole point of her going to see her parents six months ago—but for some reason this worried him.

If Maggie wasn't concentrating on him, he thought solemnly, then something very wrong was going on, something Maggie had to keep her full attention on.

"Earth to Delos?" Rashel's voice pulled him back into the present, and he looked her way to find her looking back at him curiously.

"Yes?" He asked a little embarrassed that she'd caught him off guard in his own little world. Rashel looked at him for a moment before she asked,

"How do you know this is where she is?" Delos paused, thinking it over for a moment. In reality, he didn't know. His father had visited Alec's kingdom a few times, and he'd told Delos vague directions on how to get there, but it was the sudden intense feeling he'd gotten that he'd needed to turn right then that had made him so sure.

"A feeling," he answered her, knowing that he was going to get a skeptical look. Instead Rashel just looked at him for a moment before turning back around.

"Whatever you say," she mumbled.

They drove roughly around the bases of mountains, passing through many unpaved passes and splashing through streams that led to the ocean to the right of the car. it seemed to take hours, and every minute that trickled by seem like a wild eternity to Delos.

Eventually they broke free of the mountains and into a grassy field. To the right the ocean was in plain view, the sun glinting off the almost smooth surface of the ocean. Up ahead of the empty field, was a thick forest, the branches hanging down ominously and casting dark shadows into its depths.

"Through there," Delos whispered, his throat closing tightly. Whatever was back there, it wasn't good. That much he knew just by looking at the trees looming over them as Quinn drove up to them, slowing as he did so.

"I thought so," Quinn grumbled, stopping the car and turning off the engine. "The car won't fit through there—we walk from here. Get ready Rashel." Rashel was out of the car in an instant, walking towards the back. Quinn pressed a button and Delos heard a POP! In the back. He turned around, startled and ready to defend even though he was enclosed in a tight space. "Relax-I just popped the trunk for her, that's all." Quinn's voice was soft and efficient, like a bomb specialist reassuring a team of specialists that no other country had the tools to re-construct the bomb—Delos had seen it once in what Maggie had called a movie' on one of his few trips to the outside world. The bomb specialist had been wrong, in the end.

But Quinn seemed to know what he was doing, so Delos relaxed and got out of the car and turned to find Rashel pulling a bundle out of the back of the car along with a duffel bag. She slung the duffel bag over her shoulder and slammed the trunk, letting out a sigh. "I don't know if you really have some crazy instinct on tracking your soulmate," She started, not looking at him, "and I don't know if maybe we're on this crazy chase for nothing. But for now I've decided to put my trust in you."

Delos was startled—Rashel had never seemed to bother much with him, and when she did talk to him it seemed as though she thought he was insane. "Why?" He found himself questioning her.

She didn't say anything for a moment and after a moment she turned her green eyes up to him. "Because you killed Hunter Redfern,"

Delos recalled the incident almost a year ago, but didn't see how it had anything to do with her. Seeing the confused look on his face, she elaborated, her voice even. "He killed my mother when I was five." Without waiting for Delos's answer—not that he could think of one; he was much too startled—she shrugged her shoulders and started for the forest. "So I just wanted to say thank you…that's all."

Delos was tongue tied as he watched her walk into the dark forest and disappear. "Wait…" he started, a little worried that she'd get separated from them, but a firm hand grasped his shoulder.

"Don't worry about her—she's just changing into something more flexible." Quinn sounded amused and Delos whirled too face him. He didn't seem at all concerned for her, but he still stared after her, his muscles tense just in case.

A few moments later, Rashel came back, but instead of wearing something normal-looking –at least for the modern world—she wore all black, skin tight clothes and black boots. On her hip was a two-foot long wooden sword. "No mask?" Quinn questioned, opening the passenger door so that she could toss the now empty duffel bag and her clothes from before.

"No point—if they're anything like Delos, they're not going to be talking to anyone on the outside for a while." She answered with absolute certainty and Quinn didn't argue with her.

"So do you have a plan?" She suddenly whirled to face him, her hands on her hips.

Delos paused, thinking it through. After a moment, he nodded. "Yes—but it doesn't involve you two."

Rashel looked bewildered for a moment and then outraged. "What, are you insane? You plan to march into a castle full of Night People unarmed and alone?"

Delos nodded. "Yes, I do."

Rashel gave an exasperated look to Quinn. "What makes you think they won't kill you on the spot?" Quinn asked his voice serious.

"Because it'll mean war if they did," Delos answered dryly. "You two don't know everything about my world, just like I don't know everything about yours." He turned to Rashel who was still giving him doubtful looks. "You said you could trust me; I want you to trust me now."

Rashel obviously didn't like this plan at all, but Delos could tell that she was starting to see the reason behind his words. She didn't know this environment. "What do we do if you don't come back?" she asked her voice soft.

"Send word for back up from Circle Daybreak—and do whatever it takes to save her if I don't come back by nightfall."

KKK

"R-right this way, Prince Delos," a shapeshifter stuttered, beckoning him down the dimly lit corridor. Delos followed without saying a word, his mind concentrating on everything around him. As he'd expected, he'd caught the Night People here off guard with his 'surprise emergency visit'. When the shapeshifter had asked him why, he'd glared and said I was business for Prince Alec's ears only. So reluctantly, the shapeshifter had sent word to Prince Alec of his arrival and led him down towards the throne room of the castle.

"Is there anything I can get for you, Prince Delos?" the shapeshifter was asking, his voice nervous.

"No, I'm fine thank you." Delos answered, "I just need to see Prince Alec right away, that's all."

"Is that really all?" A new voice startled both Delos and the shapeshifter into a stop. Delos whirled, and found a man standing there, staring at him with a dark expression.

He's a vampire, he thought to himself, keeping his cool, collected expression plastered on his face as he answered, "My business is for Prince Alec's ears only." He kept his gaze penetrating to emphasize that he wouldn't budge on his decision.

The man stared at Delos for along while before he turned to the shapeshifter. "I'll take him to the throne room,"

"But…" The shapeshifter looked confused, as though he wasn't sure if he was supposed to leave Delos's side.

The man's glare hardened. "Go," He ordered. The shapeshifter tensed and, muttering a farewell to Delos, turned and ran off down the corridor in the opposite direction. Delos stared after him before slowly turning to the man. Judging by the shapeshifter's reaction, Delos thought, this man was not to be underestimated.

If there was ever a time when he wished the still had his blue fire, it was now.

They stared each other down for a few moments before the man shrugged and started down the corridor. "I already know who you are, so let me introduce myself—I'm Blade; I'm Alec's advisor."

Delos reluctantly followed after Blade, "I see," He muttered.

"But I suppose you don't care about that." Blade continued on, "You have your own problems to worry about and I have my own priorities that I attend to, so frankly I don't really care that you're some powerful prince." He stopped before a large, elaborately carved wooden door and turned to Delos, his glare replacing his expressionless one from before. "But know this—I am also Alec's protector, and I don't extract mercy on anyone who threatens Alec's life."

Delos kept his nonchalant look on his face, but inside he took Blade's words as a threat that needed to be paid attention to. There was something…ruthless about Blade. He meant what he said and Delos could tell. He might have gotten along with Blade back before he met Maggie, but now…it made him uneasy.

He was going to have to finish this up fast with Alec and get Maggie away from here before Blade had the chance to do mobilize.

Blade turned away and opened the door, stepping aside so that he could go in. Delos walked past him, keeping his head held high and dignified, as though Blade's presence had no affect on him.

The first thing Delos saw when he walked into the room was Alec sitting on his throne, smiling softly and yet warily at him.

Delos's first impulse was to run up, grab him by the collar of the shirt and demand where Maggie was, but he forced himself to stay put until the door had closed behind him.

Silence.

Alec waited for Delos to say something, but Delos couldn't think to do anything but beat the answers out of him. After a moment, when it became clear that Delos wasn't going to start the conversation, Alec cleared his throat. "What, uh, what a pleasant surprise! I certainly hadn't expected you to, um, visit so suddenly. I'm sorry the hospitality isn't as perfect as it should be…you must understand, we were caught off guard and, well, it's been one of those days." Alec smiled, and instantly Delos's interest perked.

"I understand," Delos answered, keeping his glacier expression on his face, giving away no emotion for Alec to work with. "Is there something major going on, something I could help with?"

Delos caught the bare flicker of uncertainty flash through Alec's eyes. Yes, she's here, he knew that now. He forced himself to look and act calm—unsuspecting. "Oh no, nothing really—nothing we can't handle."

Delos nodded slightly, "I'm just concerned, because if we're going to have an alliance, I need to know what problems I can help with." Delos watched the shock fly onto Alec's face.

"Alliance?" he questioned, sitting forward in his seat, "You want to take my offer?"

Instead of answering his question, Delos continued, "There are conditions, of course."

"State them, by all means!" Alec was eager now, practically bouncing in his seat like a little kid.

Delos allowed himself an amused smile, "Have you heard lately about my wife?" Instantly Alec stopped bouncing. For a moment Delos could read the stark horror on Alec's face before it switched to something like pity.

"Oh yes—her accident. I'm so sorry about that—I would say that I know how you feel, but I don't. So instead I express my concerns. I'm sure that now you know the consequences of falling for a human."

"I understand," Delos said his voice expressionless.

Alec nodded in approval. "But I don't understand how I can help with that…"

"You can start by fetching her and bringing her to me." Delos interrupted, cutting to the point. He watched as every muscle in Alec's body tensed—if here had been any doubts that Alec was somehow involved with her disappearance, it was gone now.

"I think you're a bit delusional," Alec slowly said, his voice dry, "I heard that you were somewhat sick…but you shouldn't be blaming others for her death. She died in a car wreck, don't you remember?"

"I remember that she was no where to be found," Delos reminded him, "Tell me, do you know how they got into a wreck?"

Alec stared blankly at him and Delos watched—and heard—him gulp nervously. "No, I can't say I do…"

"I think you do—they hit an animal and lost control of the car. Does any of this ring a bell?"

"No…"

"I think you're lying, Alec." Delos was seriously starting to get annoyed, "Because I know you know how they got into that wreck. I think you also know why there was no dead animal found after the accident." He started forward—more like stalked forward, really. Alec wasn't cooperating with him, and Delos was losing his patience. "Alec, I suggest you tell me where she is before I seriously lose my tempter and rip your throat out."

Alec slowly stood, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. "Delos, I really think that you're irrational—why would I take the time to attack a human?"

"Because you know she's close to me, that's why. And you were concerned about your alliance—you were ready to do whatever it took to get me to sign an alliance."

Alec was pale, paler than usual. He opened his mouth, probably to deny it, and then closed it again. His grip tightened on his sword and he pulled it out of its sheath. "Don't come any closer Delos—you don't want to do this."

"So you're admitting you know where she is," Delos reached into the jacket Quinn had lent him before he'd set off to search for the castle and pulled out Rashel's knife—a tad bit smaller than Alec's, but Delos had a feeling he was probably more experienced in battle than Alec by the way Alec stood practically in a corner, not making a move to try to circle around Delos. "Tell me where she is and we can avoid this whole fiasco," His expression darkened, "Unless you've already done something to her…"

Alec lunged.

It was unexpected and wild, desperate. Delos quickly countered, matching Alec's strength with his own. "I don't know where she is," Alec snarled, now defensively angry. But Delos could still sense the fear in him; hear the rapid beating of his heart.

"You'd better," Delos jumped back and lunged one way before quickly changing direction and slamming Alec in the chest, sending him reeling back into the throne, causing it to fall backwards with a loud crash.

With the speed of an angry predator, Delos sprung on top of Alec, the tip of his sword going to Alec's throat. "Where is she, Alec?" Delos snarled, digging the tip into his skin just enough for blood to start to trickle down his throat, "Tell me the truth!"

Two things happened then, two things that Delos hadn't expected and really should have.

The doors behind him opened with a BANG! Delos tensed, his concentration broken momentarily as he thought, _Blade._

If he had only kept his concentration, he might have been able to prevent what happened next.

Alec bucked suddenly, throwing Delos off of him so hard; he flew across the room and tumbled, losing his grip on the sword. _No!_ He thought desperately as he tried to scramble back up, his hand groping for it wildly…

And then a large boot connected with his head, slamming him back onto the ground.

_OUCH!_ He thought dimly as he snarled in pain, trying to push himself out from under the boot.

"I told you I was his protector," Blade's dark and dangerous voice growled from above, "Are you alright Prince Alec?"

"I'm fine," Alec's voice was rough, probably from the wood that had pierced his neck and Delos heard footsteps coming over towards them.

"I advise you to stay back—if he's anything like…"

"Shut up Blade," Alec snapped, stopping in front of Delos's face. Slowly he leaned down and Blade's boot shifted so that it was on Delos's back. The tip of something poked the back of Delos's neck—a wooden sword.

And then Alec's hand grabbed at his hair, pulling him up a bit so that he could look into his eyes. "You wanted to know the truth," Alec said, looking more confident and amused than before now that Blade had control over Delos, "and I told it to you—I don't know where she is, because she's gone. You just missed her," a smile spread over his face, a smile that sent chills up Delos's spine. "In fact, she went off to look for you—for a few moments, I thought maybe she'd abandoned the human she'd escaped with and found and told you and that you were here for revenge. I guess I was wrong."

"I swear, when I get out of here…"

"You won't." Alec laughed, "but when I do find her, because trust me, I will find her, I'll be sure to let her know you dropped by before I kill her,"

"Don't you dare…"

"Or you'll do what? Once I'm done with her, I'll gladly put you out of your misery."

"Why her first? You have me right here, right were you wanted me…"

Alec frowned for the first time, anger flashing in his eyes, "Your _'wife'_ has a pretty good arm."

Anger flashed in Delos—if she'd resorted to self defense, Alec had definitely done something to her. "What did you do?" he snarled.

Alec shrugged, "I had some fun with her, that's all." He grinned a grin that sent waves of horror through Delos…and unbelievable fury. "She's quite enjoyable—you certainly know how to pick your play things, I'll give you that."

"I'll kill you!" Delos roared, struggling against Blade. Blade's boot pressed down harder and the tip dug deeper into Delos's neck, making it harder for Delos to breathe.

"I'm sure you will, since you're in s_uch_ a position for doing so." Alec was amused again and nodded up at Blade. "Get him out of my sight."

As Blade wrenched Delos to his feet, all Delos could think about was Maggie and the horrible things that Alec had done to her…his Maggie…his wife…and how he hadn't been there to save her.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Delos shouted as Blade dragged him from the room, keeping his eyes fixed on Alec and his smug expression, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**LOL! TWIST OF DOOM!!! Haha, I bet you all thought I was going to let Delos kick Alec's butt....hahaha. I'm not going to say any more on that subject, because it would give stuff away. **

**So questions....Where's Maggie? How's Delos going to get out of this mess? Will Circle Daybreak be able to help in time? Or will Maggie get captured and killed before then? **

**You'll have to find out next chapter! **

**REVIEW! :D **

**(Bwahahahahaha....I feel so evil....) **

**Love,**

**Alice**


	8. Chapter 7

The water was cool and foamy against my skin as I floated there, the sunlight filtering through my closed eyelids. I hadn't felt this relaxed in such a long time—my mind was clear from all the problems I'd faced and the problems I was currently facing. I let the waves carry me back to shore, enjoying the rocking-feeling as they did so.

The moment my toes touched the soft wet sand, I pulled myself upright and got up, trotting over the hot sand to where I'd left my extra pair of clothes—aka, the slave clothes. I went back into the cover of the dark trees and stripped the completely wet and possibly ruined tunic, and after tossing it over a tree branch to dry out, I pulled on the other much coarser piece of clothing. "Okay, your turn," I called into the trees as I grabbed my wet hair and wrung it out. A few moments later Rogue stumbled through, a few twigs in her hair and still smelling of sewage from our little tour of Alec's sewer system.

"At least one of us smells decent," Rogue mumbled, "Have I ever told you how much I hate the wild?" I took one look at her frazzled expression and the twigs in her hair and laughed.

"I think I would have figured that out pretty quickly if you hadn't," I assured her, "besides, I don't appreciate the smell of the ocean—do you know how many fish poop in there?"

Rogue made a face as she headed out towards the ocean. "Thanks for telling me that right before I got in," She grumbled as she stomped away. I watched after her for a moment before turning away and heading back towards our sorry excuse for a campsite, an amused grin on my face. At least we wouldn't stink of sewage—falling asleep with the smell of sewage on our bodies hadn't exactly been pleasant for either of us.

Unlike Rogue, my newly improved senses helped me so that I was able to navigate through the forest easily without stumbling over branches and roots of trees. Therefore, reaching the campsite took only a few moments. We'd spent the night in a tightly packed clearing that was dark even in the middle of the afternoon. In the center was a bed of leaves—our makeshift bed, since we didn't have room for anything other than food in our bag. To the right was a fallen tree that served sort of as a bench.

I headed for the bench and sat down on it, sighing as I did so and closing my eyes, trying to keep my muscles relaxed. Sleeping on the forest floor wasn't exactly as glamorous as it might seem—I couldn't tell you how many rocks I'd slept on. I could still feel the ghost of them jutting into my back.

The forest around me, like the Black Kingdom had when I first arrived, was completely silent. I couldn't even hear bugs moving in the dead leaves. Every instinct in my body screamed danger, but I ignored the feeling. Here, I knew, reality was reversed—if I was hearing noise, we were in trouble. I kept my ears open for any noise as my mind reviewed the rest of my plan.

Somehow, we were going to make it out of this forest. When we did, my first plan was to find the road and follow it to the nearest phone booth—I told Rogue we couldn't flag anyone down, because they might be a Night Person whom we couldn't trust. Once we found a phone booth, I'd call Miles and get him to call Circle Daybreak. Then we'd wait for Circle Daybreak to come for us, and then they'd take us back to the nearest Circle Daybreak outpost where we could rest. I'd wait for Delos to get word and come for me, and Rogue would wait for them to fetch her mother and sister.

But before any of this could happen, we needed to keep low and keep from getting re-captured.

I wonder how long the forest is, I thought to myself—Rogue wanted to travel in the beach where there weren't any obstacles to climb over, but I refused to do so. Traveling in the open made us easy targets, and I wasn't about to…

Suddenly a screech from the beach snapped me out of my thoughts and in one smooth movement I was on my feet and running back through the trees, dodging branches as I did so. "ROGUE!" I yelled as I burst through the trees and back onto the beach a moment later and instantly took the scene in, evaluating and creating a plan as much as possible.

A few feet ahead of me was a particularly large mountain lion. It was halfway between me and Rogue, who was still in the ocean water, and it had halfway turned its body so that it could look at both of us. It snarled and roared at me, but it didn't make a move to attack.

Shapeshifter, I thought—I knew enough about mountain lions to know that they waited patiently for their prey to come close enough for an ambush. They weren't animals who enjoyed chasing their prey down.

"Stay there," I yelled, crouching into a fighting stance that had suddenly become natural to me, my nails lengthening into claws. I kept my eyes on the mountain lion who, clearly sent to kill both Rogue and I, was having trouble figuring out which to attack first—vulnerable Rogue or easy-to-get-to-but-better-armed me.

It snarled, darting a glance at Rogue and then turned back to me, resolve hardening in its eyes—it had chosen to attack me first, I thought dimly, my muscles coiling as I prepared myself for the attack that was sure to come.

It faced me now, coiled into a position for an easy spring. We kept our gazes on each other, watching for who would make the first move…and then it sprung.

I dove right as it flew through the air, twisting my body so that when I landed I faced it—I wasn't about to let it catch me off guard. The mountain lion landed and in a millisecond it turned back around, its jaws opening as it let out a bone-chilling roar. Faintly I could hear Rogue screaming, but I ignored her. What was important now was the enemy in front of me.

We slowly started to circle, our eyes locked, looking for a weakness in one another. It hissed a feral cat sound that made my skin crawl. I felt my fangs lengthening and I too hissed. I arched my fingers, suddenly feeling the need to rip them into flesh…

And sprang.

The mountain lion tried to counter, but I was on top of it in a second, using what vampire strength I had left in me in the sunlight to pin it down on the sand. The great cat roared with fury as it struggled against me, its claws managing to scratch my torso. I ignored it, knowing that without wood it couldn't hurt me permanently and made my strike, sinking my fangs through its fur and into its throat.

The cat screamed in pain as its blood flowed from its body and into my mouth. I knew that normally a vampire wouldn't attack another Night Person like this, but I didn't care. It had threatened my friend, and I'd left our only weapon—a wooden sword, which was probably useless with a Shapeshifter—back at camp. So I had o other choice but to attack using the only thing I had—fangs and claws.

I drank until it was completely drained; it's screaming and clawing finally going to a stop. I pulled away when the body had gone lifeless and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, feeling the new power coursing through my veins. I felt stronger than I ever had before…and wilder. Everything had gone into clear focus and slowly I turned to look at the fully dressed Rogue who was now standing by me, staring down at the dead animal with wide eyes. "Is that….?" She whispered, pointing down at it reluctantly.

"A Shapeshifter," I answered her solemnly, "They're hunting us down." I looked up at her, my eyes serious. "You're going to have to cut the bath short—we're leaving as soon as I grab the food bag."

KKK

The forest—already dark in the sunlight—was even darker at night. Even with vampire senses, I myself could hardly see anything. The forest was eerily quiet, and the only sound was the sound of Rogue's panting.

The rest of the day had been rough—I might have moved faster if one, I knew where I was going and two, I was alone, but I refused to abandon Rogue. We tried to keep as silent as possible, stopping every so often so that I could get a good listen for any kind of pursuit.

The early afternoon's events, I could tell, had shaken Rogue. "Do you think they'll find us before we get out of here?" Rogue stage-whispered, her voice shaking.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully, pulling my legs up close to my chest. In reality, I was terrified as well. The cuts from the mountain lion had healed, but every time I stopped to listen I expected to get attacked from above. "Go to sleep Rogue," I urged, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"But…but I don't want to!" Rogue cried, "I don't like being out here! When do you think we'll get out?"

"I don't know,"

"I want to go home Maggie! I want to see my mom, my sister…"

"And I want to see Delos!" I finally snapped, "I want to see my brother, I want to see Jeanne, I want to see my parents, my dog, my cats…I want to see my old friends again, I want to see the members of Circle Daybreak at another meeting... Rogue, do you think I'm immune from all of this? I might be different from you now, but I'm still the same person I was before! Heck, I wouldn't even mind eating a pizza!" Rogue had fallen silent and I could smell the salty-tears coming from her direction. "Don't cry…I didn't…" I sighed, finally giving up and sat back against the trees, looking up into the branches.

Never in the past six months had I ever cried. Don't get me wrong, I was depressed enough to sink into a corner and disappear, but I'd refused to cry. Crying was a weakness. I didn't want to show Alec any weakness—showing him weakness would have been like letting him win, something I was determined to keep from happening.

But out here away from Alec, the need to cry and show weakness was like an overwhelming desire. The silence was overwhelming, bringing up the painful lonely months that I'd tried to forget. Tears stung at my eyes, threatening to spill over…

No, I thought, not yet…hold on till its over. You still have to be strong for Rogue—she needs you to be strong.

The thought of Rogue made everything jump into focus and the need to cry right then lessened. And yet in the back of my mind I could still feel it there.

Slowly, I closed my eyes and started to quietly sing a random song, something familiar, more to myself than anyone else; "When you walk…through a storm…keep your chin held high…and don't be afraid of the dark…" The words caught in my throat—I was surprised I even remembered it. Our school had performed Carousel a few weeks before I'd met Delos and the song, though it had been one of my favorites in the entire play, hadn't been thought about since then.

"At the end of the storm, is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark," My gaze snapped to Rogue at the sound of her voice, but she wasn't facing me—she was lying down, facing a wall of trees. In the distance, thunder rolled, introducing the arrival of a rain storm. "Go on," Rogue prompted, her voice raspy. I could tell she'd been crying.

I paused, trying to remember the rest of the song. "Walk on through the wind," It was hard to get the words out—more than ever I wanted to cry, "Walk on through the rain, tho' your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone…" I stopped, slowly looking back up at the canopy of trees above us. I could hear the rain drops start to hit the leaves above, and felt a stray drop hit my cheek. "You'll never walk alone…"

KKK

Two very long days passed without incident; all we'd seen and heard were our own footsteps in the mud and Rogue's heavy breathing as we trudged forward. We stopped often and rested little, trying to keep moving forward though our strength was waxing cold in our bodies. Although I needed to feed once a day and the forest quite obviously had no animals in it, I tried my best not to take any from Rogue—I didn't want to make her even weaker than she already was.

"The food supply is running low," Rogue informed me that morning as the sun cast rays through the leaves of the trees above us. My hands froze and I slowly looked up at her, alarm showing on my face.

"How much do you have left?" I hadn't taken any of it—I hadn't needed it, and although I still enjoyed human food, I refrained from partaking in her food supply. Rogue silently held the bag out and I took it from her, peering over the edge to look in.

At a first glance, there was plenty of food in the bag. But after reaching in and grabbing a loaf of bread, I could see the mold and bugs that were starting to get into it. I mad a face and dropped the loaves on the ground. Both Rogue and I stared at it, watching the bugs scatter and crawl frantically over the bread. "Oh…oh no…" I moaned.

"There are a few pieces of food that might last me over breakfast…but…."

"No," I shook my head slowly, "all the food in there has been contaminated with mold and bugs…you'll just get yourself sick."

Rogue was silent, and I knew that I'd won this one. "But how are we going to travel?" She silently asked, and I could hear her voice starting to get a hysterical edge in it, "I need food…and you need some blood…"

"No I don't," I shook my head and stood, "I can go a few days without it…" At least I hoped I could. I didn't quite know all the facts about being a vampire. Being human, you could go a few weeks without food. But a vampire…I didn't know how long I'd last.

But my main concern was Rogue—being human, her strength waned faster than mine. And she already wasn't the type to go hiking through the woods. She was already about to drop on her face.

"But…"

"I'll be fine—I'm worried about you at the moment."

Rogue was silent for a moment before she took a deep breath. "How far do you think we need to go?" she asked. I was still staring in horror at the ruined food in front of us.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. I looked up and met her eyes directly, "Quite honestly, we might have been heading the completely wrong direction…or we could be going in circles." I watched the fear rise into Rogue's eyes, but she didn't as much as whimper. Instead she slowly nodded her head and stood up.

"I think we need to get moving," She stated, her voice eerily calm. I slowly rose to my feet and started to lead the way.

We spent the next few hours, like before, trudging through the forest—the forest canopy was thankfully able to provide shelter from the hot rays of the sun, but that only made everything into a wet heat. We sweat like crazy, our clothes sticking to our bodies uncomfortably. At that moment I wished I had a rubber band to pull my hair up and away from my neck.

The entire time Rogue hadn't said a word, but I could hear her breathing become more and more irregular to the point where she was wheezing with each breath. Finally I stopped and whirled around. "Stop Rogue—you need to rest."

Rogue shook her head, but she leaned against a near-by tree anyways, her hair falling into her exhausted, sweaty face. "If….if we stop now….we'll die…."

"You'll die if you don't get any rest," I insisted, my eyes scanning the area around us for a some-what safe place to putt her. "I'm going to scout ahead, try to see if there's maybe a stream at least, or something edible…"

"You're leaving me?" all at once, Rogue's voice was hysterical with fear. I shook my head.

"Only for a moment—I'll be right back. I need to find something that can help you keep moving…something to give you strength." I spotted a two treed that were bent over sideways, criss-crossing one another. "Over here," I gently guided her to the trees and set her down under them. It was a little place, and if she stayed down she might have somewhat of a good hiding spot. "Lay down and stay here…don't leave here no matter what happens." I ordered, standing up straight, "I'll be back for you, I promise."

Before Rogue could protest, I whirled and dashed off into the forest.

I searched for what seemed like hours, hoping and praying to myself that I could find a water stream or at least some plants that she could eat. But the more I looked, the less it became likely that there was anything life-sustaining out here. Most of the plants were dead leaves and trees. Dead leaves didn't do anything for you and she couldn't eat a tree.

I stopped in mid stride and stood there, glaring down at the muddy forest floor. I'd failed her. I'd gotten Rogue into this mess, and now she was back there, dying and there was nothing I could to do save her. Even turning her into a vampire would get us no where—she'd be out for days, leaving us vulnerable and even if we didn't get caught, there was no way either of us would be able to find food. There was just simply nothing there.

We were doomed. And it was my entire fault.

Frustrated and resigned, I whirled around and started to trot back to where I'd left Rogue…

And then a fluttering of wings made me freeze and listen. I listened hard, so hard my ears began to ring. My heart pounded wildly in my chest, thumping erratically against my rib cage.

And then I heard it again—the flutter of wings through the branches just a few feet away from me.

I instantly crouched, every sense going on alert as I slithered quietly across the forest floor, the damp leaves softening my foot falls. I wasn't alone—I could hear the branches shaking wildly, but as my eyes darted around I couldn't see anything…

And then the branch shaking stopped and I heard a loud THUMP, indicating that someone had just landed and hit the forest floor. There was a grunt and then a few seconds later there were foot falls, slow and deliberate.

It's looking for me, the thought flashed into my mind, and instantly I knew it was true. The way the creature…the person….whoever it was, was moving—it was looking for someone.

And I knew somehow that that someone was me.

Slowly I creped around, trying to get behind the figure, my heart beat drumming in my mind as I did so. I could feel my fangs lengthening and my fingers turning into claws, ready to defend myself.

And then the footfalls stopped.

My instincts went wild. Attack it before it can attack you! They screamed, and before I had time to think about what I was going, I gracefully sprung from my hiding spot and closed the distance between us, throwing my body against his so that we both went sprawling to the ground. He—it was indeed a he—cried out in surprise and fury as it struggled to get my off of him. I had his face pined to the forest floor, and my hand grabbed his hair and pulled up. "Alec obviously hasn't learned to keep out of my way, has he?" I snarled, leaning in close so that it was whispered into his ear.

Instantly he tensed and stopped struggling. Odd…most people would struggle to the death, like the shapeshifter had. I pushed the thought aside and opened my mouth, ready to dive for the kill…

"Wait…Maggie, stop!" The voice stopped me cold, my breath catching in my throat. That voice…I knew that voice, even if it was muffled do to the fact that I had his face pinned into the forest floor. "It's me!"

I stared at the thing pinned under me for a moment before I leapt off of him, but my fangs and claws stayed retracted as I watched the figure push himself out of the mud, his arm going to wipe the dirt off his face before he whirled around.

Even stained with mud, I recognized the face in an instant. My eyes widened and my knees suddenly felt like jelly, wanting to give out from under me. Slowly, ever so slowly, I stumbled back towards him. "How…why…." I stopped, the questions running wild in my head. And then I croaked, "Miles?"

Miles looked at me for a moment and smiled, throwing his thumb up in one of his old gestures that I remembered so well. "Good to see you…" And then he stopped, taking another look at me, and I knew what he was seeing right then—a wild looking girl who looked like his sister and sounded like her, except with fangs and claws.

I seriously wanted to shrivel up and die right then.

Miles stared at me, his eyes widening with horror. And then slowly, he met my eyes again. "What have they done to you?"

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**Man, things just can't go Maggie's way, can they? I think one of her main problems right now is that she's trying to stay strong, but all she's wanted to do this entire time was just sit there and cry. But obviously she can't do that, because she, being the natural leader she is, is looked up to. And in her case, crying is a weakness. If she were to cry, Roggue would probably have a panic attack and think the world was falling or something. **

**So two chapters in one day! I'm on a roll! That's what happens when you don't really have much to do on B-days...**

**I still feel bad for Maggie. :( And for Delos, because you know that he's just kind of sitting there in the dungeon back at the castle, comepletely going nuts with boredom and worry. As well as he should be...I just think its funny because, like Roul in Phantom of the Opera, he's having one of those moments where he's just kind of like, "Um...don't mind me...I'm just sitting here....not knowing where you are....come on....can you at least give me a clue to where you are?....hello? Maggie???" And you know anyone listening in probably thinks he's crazy. LOL! **

**REVIEW! **

**love,**

**Alice**


	9. Chapter 8

I pulled myself out of the large metal tin that served as a temporary bath, grabbing an impossibly soft, fluffy towel and wrapping it around myself before crossing to the other side of the large tent and picking up the pile of clothes the girl named Rashel gad left for me. "We didn't really know for sure if you were actually here," Rashel insisted, an apologetic and embarrassed expression on her face, "Actually, I must admit that even I doubted your chances for survival after seeing the wreck of the car…"

"I didn't survive," I'd reminded her bleakly, indicating that I had, in fact, died in a way. Rashel seemed to understand.

"In any case, you need clothes," she wrinkled her nose, "Clean ones. Jeanne seems to be about Rogue's size, so I'm sure she has an extra pair—I'll inform her immediately. And you're about my size, so I'll just give you the clothes I was wearing before."

Although she'd worn these clothes recently, I could smell that they were still relatively clean—at least cleaner than the ones I'd been wearing before. I quickly changed and found to my satisfaction that they fit like a glove. I pulled my wet hair from out of my shirt and let it fall wildly over my shoulders before I sighed and whirled around to look at the mirror.

And froze.

I'd seen myself in the mirror plenty of times since I'd been changed and I'd acknowledged the fact the differences in my body. But I suppose the tunic had taken away from the effect—in the tunic, I'd looked more like a sassy princess.

But now I looked dangerous.

I wore faded black jeans that overlapped a pair of worn converse with a black tank top that had lace lining the edges. Over the black tank top, I wore a button up black shirt that I'd buttoned up only half way, the sleeves of it ending in rolled up cuffs at the elbows. My auburn hair, though wet, lined my face and fell across my shoulders in wild tangles and my face had the light of a hunter in it.

I looked not only dangerous, I thought, but I looked _good._ I no longer looked like the head-strong yet good Maggie; I looked like a wild, dangerous, untamable and yet stunning Maggie, capable of anything I put my mind to. And I liked it.

I wondered absently what Delos would think when he saw the new me—would he like it? He might, since he initially wanted to change me. But maybe his opinion on the matter had changed since then…

"Jeanne don't go in there! Maggie's…" I whirled around at the sound of my brother's voice just in time to see Jeanne storm into the tent flap, her eyes wide and face pale.

We stared at one another silently—I'd met Rashel shortly after coming to camp and she'd shoved me towards the bath before I could greet those I knew. The sight of Jeanne was a relief to sore eyes—her red hair reflected the soft glow of the sunlight that filtered through the tent flaps, her lips slightly parted and her breathing irregular. After a moment of just staring at each other, Jeanne melted, tears falling down her face as she launched herself at me.

I caught her and held her just as tight as she did, letting her cry into my shoulder. "I…I thought…I thought I'd never see you again!" She wailed.

"That's _my_ line," I chuckled, rubbing her back soothingly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you give up you seat…"

"The accident would have happened anyway,"_ I just might have stayed human, that's all, _I added silently but Jeanne seemed to have gotten the message nevertheless.

She pulled away, giving me another good look over. My fangs and claws had been retracted, but I knew now that I still looked wild and untamable—almost nothing like the old Maggie. "But I could have spared you this," she started to wail, but I held a hand up to stop her.

"What's done is done," I told her firmly, "It's not your fault—it's not anyone's fault but Alec's."

"Delos was saying something about that," We both turned in surprise at the sound of my brother's voice. He stood at the tent flap, his face as serious as I'd ever seen it.

"Delos," I whispered, stepping around Jeanne to go to my brother's side. "Miles, where is he? Where's Delos? Is he here or is he back at the castle? When can I talk to him? Has anyone informed him…"

"He's been captured," I stopped, my eyes wide, the air catching in my throat. I could hardly believe the words he'd just told me. How could Delos have been captured? Never in my life had I ever thought that was possible. Miles, obviously seeing that I didn't believe him, shrugged, "Or he's dead—think what you'd like to think."

"How, why?" I demanded, my voice rising in panic.

"He claimed that you'd reached him, told him that Alec set up the accident…is that true?" I nodded and heard Jeanne gasp furiously behind me before letting out a string of dirty words which I ignored. "Anyways, he called me while he was on the way down here, explained his theory, and then ordered me to call Circle Daybreak if I didn't hear word from him in two days. But according to Rashel and Quinn, they took him here and he went in alone, confident that Alec would be diplomatic about this, two days ago. When he hadn't come back by nightfall, they called in for back up." Delos was here. Captured or maybe even dead, but he was here. And I'd missed him. A sinking feeling of irony sank into the pit of my stomach. If I'd waited for him for just a little longer…

But if you'd waited any longer, a voice in my dead reminded me, you would have become Alec's plaything.

I shuddered at the memory and tried to push the worry and panic that had risen within me back. I was much closer to him now than I thought I was—if I panicked now, I knew that it would only cause more unnecessary trouble. So instead I asked, "How many people do we have?" I remembered seeing a bunch of large roomy tents when I walked into the large grassy field at the edge of the forest, and I wondered how many people we truly had.

Miles shrugged, "Thierry sent at least a fourth of the infantry—some of the best fighters in the entire Night World, Quinn says."

I stared at him disbelievingly. "If you have a fourth of Circle Daybreak's infantry," I slowly said, irritation starting to spark within me, "Why haven't you stormed the castle? Pardon my pun,"

"It's not that simple Maggie," Jeanne interrupted, her voice still rough from her crying fit a few moments before. "We don't have any idea of where the castle is in the forest—Miles had been scouting ahead when you two found each other—and even if we did, we don't have any idea where things are in the castle, or which points could work to our advantage…"

I listened carefully and deliberately, my mind working through thee things she was saying. It was true—they'd never been to Alec's castle, nor had they really spent much time trekking through the woods that surrounded his castle.

But I had.

"I don't know exactly where the castle is, but I can help you with the layout of the land around the castle and the floor plans of it." I interrupted, my voice holding no emotion. Jeanne stopped blabbering and both she and Miles gave me a look that clearly said they thought I'd gone nuts again.

"No way," Miles replied, his voice hard with his decision, "We just got you back—I'm not prepared to lose you again."

"And I'm not prepared to just sit around and wait for you to bring Delos to me!" I snapped back, "I'm sick of playing the role of trapped princess here! I want to help you guys—in fact, I'm the only one who not only knows the place like the back of her hand, but I'm also the one who can make it back—Rogue needs to go home." Miles hesitated—he'd seen the condition that Rogue had been in; he knew just as well as I did there was no way she could make another trip back through that forest on foot again without losing her mind. I sighed and took a step towards my brother—I half expected him to flinch away like some of the castle servants did, but he didn't even indicate that my presence bothered him in the slightest—and put a hand on his arm. "Things have…changed, Miles—I'm not some helpless human girl who can't protect herself. I can do this Miles—besides, I want a chance to get back at Alec."

Miles hesitated, torn by the logic of my words and his older brother over protectiveness. I could tell that part of him wanted to lock me up somewhere where no one could get to me, while the other half of him was telling to let it go. Finally he sighed and nodded. "Alright—but please, whatever you do, don't get yourself killed; not when I just got you back."

I smiled and threw my arms around him. "Thanks Miles—did I tell you how much I missed you?"

Miles hugged me back, his embrace tight around me. "You have no idea…" He whispered so quietly, it was hard for even me to catch it. We held each other quietly for a moment before Miles pulled away just enough to look down at me. "Are you thirsty?"

The question surprised me—of course I was. I didn't dare try to take any blood from Rogue in her condition, so I hadn't actually had any blood that day. "Well no, but I'm really quite fine…" But as I was speaking, Miles pulled away and started to roll back his sleeve from his wrist. "What are you doing?" I slowly demanded, my eyes narrowing.

"Giving you some of my blood," Miles answered as though he were merely stating that the sky was blue.

I blinked at him. Was he insane? Had my brother gone up the wall in the six months that I'd been gone? "No thank you," I managed to tell him, backing away towards the opening in the tent. Miles rolled his eyes and looked at me as though I were some stubborn little child refusing to eat her veggies.

"You know you won't survive without it," he insisted, holding out his wrist to me, "I'm cool with it—what are brothers for?" _Um, not for eating, that's for sure,_ I thought sarcastically, and yet the sight of the veins in his wrist was appealing to my inner animal.

"I'm not cool with it," I told him, but my eyes stayed glued to his wrist. If I looked close enough I could see the pulse thumping softly there…

"Maggie," I reluctantly tore my eyes away from his wrist to look up into his serious eyes, "If you don't get blood, you might not be able to help save Delos." I winced—he was right and he knew that I knew it now. Without blood, I wouldn't be able to make it through the forest either.

And more than anything I wanted to help save Delos and bring down Alec's little operation.

So very reluctantly I stepped back forward, my eyes fixed on the ground, refusing to look at my brother or Jeanne in the eye. "I'm sorry," I whispered as I gently took his hand, pulling it up so that his wrist was cradled against my lips. And then I bit.

I've never felt so dirty before—or embarrassed. Of anyone, I didn't want to take blood from my brother. And in front of Jeanne, who had probably, like Rogue, been drawn from unwillingly many times. Never in my life had I been so humiliated.

As soon as I'd gotten the blood I needed, I released my fangs from his wrist and wiped my mouth of blood. "Thanks," I mumbled, turning away to hide the angry blush that had risen up on my cheeks. "I…I need to go check on Rogue." I whirled around, now concentrated on leaving the gaze of my brother and Jeanne, but just as I reached the door, my brother's voice stopped me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I knew what he was referring to—he knew that I was upset about this whole situation. But I didn't want to talk to him or, really, anyone about my feelings on becoming a vampire. Because I knew that if I did I'd lose all control I had over myself.

"No," I answered before opening up the tent flap and walking out.

The sun was setting over the ocean horizon and a cool salty breeze was blowing through the camp, causing the tent flaps to make loud smacking noises. I walked briskly; my hair blowing around my face and drying as I cut through the main area of camp were many Night People were sitting around a fire, laughing about some joke that had just been told. A few of them stared as I went by, but I ignored them and continued to my new tent which I shared with Rogue.

I pushed myself in and sighed, my muscles relaxing. Rogue lay there staring up at the ceiling. "Can't sleep?" I asked quietly. Rogue's eyes snapped to mine and a smile spread over her face.

"No, I can—I was just waiting for you." She replied, rolling onto her side. "You look hot," She added, taking a good look over me.

I shook my head, "I look like a dangerous assassin."

"Who knows—maybe you'll scare off the bad guys without a fight?" I laughed and sat down at the edge of her cot.

"How does it feel to lay down on something other than dirt and rocks?" I teased.

"Wonderful," She sighed in contempt before frowning, "So why is there a giant camp of Night People outside of Alec's woods?" I winced—somehow I knew that was the main reason she'd waited up for me. I slowly told her the story, not looking at her face.

"But you're going home—Miles knows that you need to go home." I assured her when I was done telling her the story.

"But what about you?" her voice was filled with worry.

I was silent, staring at the floor of the tent before I looked up and met her eyes. "I need to stay here and fight for Delos—he came to my rescue, so now it's my turn to come to his." Rogue and I held our gazes for a long moment before she slowly nodded her head.

"Will I ever see you again?" She whispered. I winced and shrugged.

"It depends if we live through this—Thierry sent his best warriors, but…I'm not sure how steady Alec's kingdom is."

"He was asking for an alliance with Delos," Rogue pointed out, "Usually when a country tries to ally with another, it's because the other is stronger."

"True," I agreed, "But he could have just been giving us the illusion that things were failing in his country."

"I doubt it," Rogue sighed, "Will you promise me something?"

I eyed her warily. "It depends," I answered slowly.

Rogue smiled softly, "If you live through this, I want to know—and I want to meet Delos. So promise me, when this is all over, that you'll drop by." I relaxed—I'd been afraid she'd try to get me to promise something that I wasn't sure I could keep. But this was one I knew that I could keep…if I lived.

"I promise," I assured her, patting her leg gently. "Now you need to get some sleep—I plan for you to leave first thing in the morning." Rogue smiled and shifted to a more comfortable position before closing her eyes.

I sat there for a moment, giving her a chance to drift away into a deep sleep before I stood up.

Just as I was about to leave the tent, Rogue's soft voice reached my ears. "I never told you but—thank you for this—for everything." I paused and looked back at her. Her eyes were still closed but there was a smile on her lips.

I smiled back, even though she couldn't see it. "Good night Rogue,"

KKK

I woke to the sounds of yelling from outside the tent and the feeling of someone pushing my shoulder wildly. "Maggie, wake up!" Rogue's voice was frightened and soft, as though she were trying to keep from drawing attention to our tent. I opened my eyes, staring up at Rogue's frightened expression. What was going on? I wondered sleepily, trying to concentrate on the yelling outside.

"Hold your ground!" That sounded like Rashel.

"Look out!" That sounded like Quinn.

_Oh __**please**__ let this all be a dream,_ I thought in dismay as I sat up. But as the world became more and more clear, so was the knowledge that this was real. Instantly my instincts kicked in and I sprang out of bed, "Stay here!" I ordered, "Don't move from here no matter what happens! And stay quiet!" I didn't wait for her to reply—instead I snatched the converse that I'd pulled off the night before and ran out of the tent, pulling them over my feet as I went.

The world outside the tent was full of chaos. Vampires faced one another with stakes and wooden swords; shapeshifters were in their forms, crouched circling one another if they weren't already at each other's throats. There was even a grey werewolf taking down a shapeshifted bear. Blood was soaking on the ground, filling the air with a dizzy sweet smell that made me feel a little light headed.

"Maggie, get back in the tent!" I whirled around to find my brother facing off with another shapeshifter. Instead of doing as he ordered however, I rushed at the shapeshifter, my fangs and claws lengthening as I ran. "What are you DOING?" Miles shouted as I slammed into the shapeshifter, sending both of us sprawling over the sand.

"Shut up Miles," I snapped as I pinned the struggling animal down with my vampire strength and grabbed its throat with my fingers. I sunk my claws into its throat, feeling the warm blood well up around my fingertips. The shapeshifter tried to scream, but all that came out was sickening choking. "You might want to look away," I said to Miles who I could feel standing beside me, but even I didn't want to have to do this. I tightened my grip and yanked, ripping out a good chunk of the shapeshifters throat. Blood splattered all over my hands in fountains as I dropped the chunk and stood, shaking my hands of the blood.

"Maggie…" Miles voice was disbelieving and I turned to him, my expression fierce.

"I'm not proud of this Miles," I told him, "But I'm not about to sit around and let you get killed when I can do something about it." With that said I whirled around and crouched, ready to fight.

But instead of the raging battle that I'd expected to still be going on, it seemed that already Circle Daybreak was pushing back Alec's people into the woods where they'd come from. All around were dying Night People, and by their clothes most of them seemed to be Alec's people. I straightened quickly and ran forward towards where Rashel and Quinn were, both of them still standing back to back. "Rashel, what happened?" I called as soon as I was close enough.

She whirled around, but I could tell that although she was paying attention to me she was still paying attention to everything around us as well. "They ambushed us this morning—but I think it was an on-whim action, because it was obvious they weren't ready to face an army of Circle Daybreakers—they were equipped only for fighting vampires." In other words, I thought mentally, they were looking for both me and Rogue, but when they'd…

_Oh no,_ I thought suddenly, a cold feeling sinking in my stomach_, Rogue._

"Hold that thought," I said, whirling around and heading back towards our tent. A few tents around me were already toppled over and a few Circle Daybreakers were cleaning it up. They looked up at me as I ran by, but I ignored them and continued forward…

Until I saw my tent.

I skidded to a stop, my eyes wide and my insides freezing over. Oh no, I thought in horror, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

"Maggie wait a moment!" Miles was shouting from behind me, sounding out of breath from chasing me around camp. I stood there, letting him catch up to me, "I…what was that back there?" I didn't answer him, only slowly started forward, my breath irregular in my throat. "Are you listening to me? Come on Maggie, why don't you just talk to…?"

"Miles," I whispered, turning to him, "Don't you see that?" Miles looked at me in confusion for a moment before he slowly turned to look at the tent. I watched as his face went pale and his eyes wide.

The tent was hardly standing—it had been ripped into shreds, and the tent flap was hanging and blowing slightly in the wind.

But there was no movement from the inside.

"I think you'd better go make sure Jeanne's alright," I whispered, moving forward again. Thankfully Miles didn't object—instead I heard him whirl and start to run in the direction of his tent.

I slowly approached the tent, my heart pounding like crazy with each move I made towards it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I walked into it.

It was empty.

"Rogue?" I asked into the empty tent. Maybe she was hiding, a part of me was saying, but I knew it was wrong.

They'd taken Rogue.

I slowly sank down onto my cot, staring at her overturned one. She was gone. The knowledge filled me, making my heart beat wildly and tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

Rogue was gone and it was all my fault.

I could have stayed and protected her. I could have helped fight off the Night People, could have saved her even if it meant giving up my freedom. I slowly lowered my head into my hands and stared down at the floor of my tent as footsteps came from outside. A moment later Jeanne was by my side, taking in the scene around me. "She's gone," She whispered in disbelief.

I slowly looked up at her, my eyes expressionless. "She's gone."

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**Ok, so although this wasn't my favorite chapter, I still had a few favorite moments. **

**First favorite moment; **

**""You know you won't survive without it," he insisted, holding out his wrist to me, "I'm cool with it—what are brothers for?" _Um, not for eating, that's for sure,_ I thought sarcastically." **

**LOL. Things are obviously a little tense now because things have certainly changed for Maggie, and she's a little weirded out by how cool her brother is taking all of it. But I just thought it was funny that she so sarcastically said that. **

**Second favorite moment; **

**"I opened my eyes, staring up at Rogue's frightened expression. What was going on? I wondered sleepily, trying to concentrate on the yelling outside.**

**"Hold your ground!" That sounded like Rashel.**

**"Look out!" That sounded like Quinn.**

**_Oh __please__ let this all be a dream,_ I thought in dismay as I sat up." **

**Have any of you ever had those moments? I have these moments every morning when the alarm goes off, because I'm completely comfortable in sleep. Soo half of the time my alarm goes for five minutes because I think its a dream and when I have friends over they're trying to wake me up, but then they become part of the dream. it just amused me that Maggie had one of these moments. **

**K, enough for my chapter ramble. **

**Anyhoo, I've already started on chapter 10 (after I finished my project for history, I told my subsitute teacher that I was working on a project; it IS a half truth...this is sort of a project. I dont think she really cared though, because I wasn't playing around). I don't know how long it is, all I know is that it won't be long before the story is over. not one of my longest stories, but whatever. **

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	10. Chapter 9

Rogue stood tall and proud before Alec, her chin held high and her eyes locked defiantly on his. But inside she felt like a quaking bunny rabbit at the mercy of the wolves. However, she refused to show any sort of weakness—if there was anything that Maggie had taught her in the past six months, it was to 'keep your chin up' until the very end. Over and over in her mind, she kept thinking to herself. What would Maggie do? What would Maggie say? How would Maggie look at Alec?

Defiantly, of course.

So here she was, pretending she was in fact the strong, brave and stubborn Maggie and not the fearful little human named Rogue, staring at Alec as though she didn't care what he did to her—which of course she did, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Alec could see the defiance in her eyes...and he was responding to it.

"Humans are so easily influenced," he was telling Blade who was gazing at her from the far corner of the Throne room, "they don't even know when the influence is bad."

"Maggie is not a bad influence," Rogue snapped, putting as much malice into her voice as it would allow. Alec's eyes widened—obviously he hadn't expected her to say anything back.

"See what I mean?" He murmured, "They can't even hold their tongues." He stood from his throne and walked towards her, his eyes penetrating and frightening. But Rogue held her ground, keeping her face filled with the hate she felt for him. He stopped in front of her, inches from her face. He gazed at her for a moment before he chuckled. "Yeah, she's definitely been influenced, all right—she's giving me almost the exact same look Maggie gave me."

He then proceeded to lift his hand up and firmly grasp her chin between his forefinger and thumb. Rogue tried to pull away, but he held her there tightly, refusing to release her. "Do you know where Maggie is?" that was a stupid question—of course she knew where Maggie was. She was still back at camp, probably worried sick for her…

Instead, she replied, "Sorry but no, I don't—can't help you there." His grip tightened—it was almost painful.

"I know you know where she is—is she back there with the rebels?" Rebels? Rogue had a strange urge to start giggling uncontrollably. How many times had that term been used to call an army that had risen up to save either themselves or others from oppression? "What are the rebels planning?"

"What rebels?" Rogue asked, her voice slightly coated in amusement—a little taste of his own medicine.

Alec didn't seem to like his own medicine though—his expression darkened and slowly he hissed. "Stop playing dumb with me vermin," Alec snapped, his voice harsh and impatient, "What are they planning?"

Rogue couldn't help it—she started to giggle. "I don't know what rebels you're talking about sir—you must be mistaken." Alec was furious. He let go of Rogue and stormed away but then whirled around.

"HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE FACT THAT HALF OF MY SCOUTS ARE DEAD?" he shouted, pointing at the open window as though to show her their dead bodies.

Rogue thought for a moment. "Rabies," she finally stated, remembering Ana, the crazy character from the play And Mrs. Reardon Drinks A Little who thought she was going to die of rabies after getting bitten by a stray cat.

Apparently Alec didn't appreciate the joke, because suddenly his face went red and he roared with such rage that all of Rogue's inner humor was gone, replaced by fear and adrenaline. "Get her out of my sight!" Alec snapped at Blade, who seemed surprised by Alec's reaction as well. He hesitated for a moment but then moved back forward, taking Rogue roughly by the arm and led her out of the room and back through the corridors, heading for the dungeon.

As Blade dragged her down the corridor, passing servants stopped and stared at Rogue. Some looked worried for her safety while others looked at her admiringly. She wanted to tell them that it wasn't her she should be looking at that way—it was Maggie. Without Maggie, she would have never gotten out of here in the first place. And strangely enough, she wasn't too upset that she'd been re-captured. She was upset that she didn't get to see her mom and sister again today, but she knew that Maggie wouldn't rest until she'd taken down Alec's kingdom and gotten both her and Delos back…

Speaking of which, where was Delos?

Blade reached the dungeon door and started to pull her down into the dark, cold and damp world. In a way she was reminded of the Phantom pulling Christine down with him to the dungeon bellow the Opera House to make her his bride…

She really needed to stop watching so many plays.

"I'd advise you to just tell him the information," Blade suddenly said, stopping in his tracks so quickly that Rogue almost ran into him. He gave her a look that was almost…pleading. "Maybe he'll let you get off scotch free if you just tell him what he wants…"

Rogue looked at him in surprise; never before had Blade talked to a human, much less try to give her advice. "Um, thanks, but no thanks." She managed. Blade's expression darkened.

"You're an idiot then," He muttered, turning and pulling her off the stairs and towards the prison.

The prison was relatively small and extremely filthy. Rogue was sure that the place was swarming with rats and other disgusting critters that were carrying deadly diseases. As they approached the cell, a low and frightening hiss escaped from the darkness in the corners of it. Rogue froze, her eyes desperately scanning to see who was in there, but she couldn't see anything. "That's not rather welcoming," Blade said into the darkness as he jammed in the key and twisted it so that the door unlocked and opened. Then he promptly shoved Rogue into the cell. "Be nice—Alec was generous to send her down here to give you company."

Give who company? Rogue wondered in fright—a renegade werewolf? A blood-thirsty shapeshifter? Or….

She gripped the iron bars hard, watching as Blade disappeared out of sight before she slowly turned around. "I can't tell you how much I hate that man," A voice from the darkness grumbled. A moment later, right before Rogue's eyes, a man emerged from the shadows, seemingly from nowhere. Rogue gasped and slammed up against the bars with her back, her hand going up to her mouth.

She slid down the bars until she was sitting on the floor, her eyes wide with terror. Now that she was out of Alec and Blade's presence, she was free to have her melt down, which was being triggered by the sudden appearance of the man. Tears suddenly sprung from her eyes, falling down her face uncontrollably and she brought her knees up close to her body, resting her forehead on her knees.

"Hey," The voice was so startlingly close—right next to her ear, in fact—that Rogue tensed and started to sob harder. "Hey…it's okay….I don't bite…okay, maybe once in a while I do, but I'm not going to bite you." Rogue started to calm down a bit, but she was still crying. How could she trust this man?

The man, obviously seeing that what he was saying wasn't working, he sighed. "Yeah, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't believe me. You've probably been through a lot if you ended up down here with me." He sighed, "Look, somehow…I don't know how, but somehow…we're going to get out of here. And when we do…" He trailed off, and something about the way he trailed off made Rogue slowly look up at him.

He was kneeling in front of her, not looking at her, but glaring at the floor. He had dark hair that was sort of wavy that fell gently over his forehead. His eyes were a striking golden color—Rogue didn't even know that color was possible—and he was nicely toned and lithe-looking. And there was a vulnerable set to his mouth…

Wait, GOLDEN eyes?

"Hey wait a second," no longer did Rogue feel like crying. She remembered how once, a long time ago, she'd asked her what Delos looked like. The one thing she said was, "He has the most amazing golden eyes…"

Well, Rogue didn't think many guys had golden eyes and just happened to dislike Alec. "You're him, aren't you?" She asked, sitting forward a bit. Delos looked a little confused.

"Um…who am I supposed to be?" He questioned uncertainly.

"You're Prince Delos from the Black Kingdom!" Rogue was excited now—it had to be him, it just had to be.

"Y-yes, I'm Prince Delos," instantly Rogue was on her feet, a squeal of excitement and happiness escaping her throat.

"YOU'RE NOT DEAD! YOU'RE ALIVE! Captured, but ALIVE!" Delos was staring at her as if she'd just told him a dingo ate her baby two seconds ago.

"Um…no, no I appear to be alive, thank you for confirming that very obvious fact." Rogue wasn't listening—instead, she was rambling on.

"I knew you wouldn't die! The hero never dies…except in Romeo and Juliet…and Old Yeller…and….well, I don't think any princes die…but either way! I knew that you wouldn't die and leave Maggie all alone…"

Suddenly Delos was on his feet, his eyes wide with shock, amazement and longing. "You know Maggie?" his more than ever he sounded vulnerable, as if he'd die if he didn't have her in his arms again in five minutes. Judging by the look on his face, Rogue wouldn't doubt the possibility of that.

"Yes—yes of course I know her! Oh, she'll be so happy to realize that for sure you aren't dead!"

"What do you mean?" Rogue blinked—of course he wouldn't know what's going on; he'd been stuck in here for the past three days.

"I guess I should explain—see, Rashel called for back up when you didn't come back by nightfall. Thierry sent a fourth of the Circle Daybreak army to help rescue you, all of them some of his best warriors. Maggie's brother and that one girl came down as soon as possible as well." She paused, leaning in closer and lowering her voice so that only Delos could hear her, "They've been planning to attack, but the problem is that they didn't know where the castle was or the advantage points. But, lucky for them, when Maggie's brother went to scout ahead, he and Maggie ran into each other.

"But the problem is," Rogue concluded, "Is that no one knows if you're dead or alive since no one's heard from you…"

"And they told Maggie that," Delos stated, his voice filled with irritation and annoyance.

"Well what do you expect them to tell her when she's demanding to see you? The whole reason she put together the escape plan was so that she could one, go back to you, two, reveal what's going on down here to you and Circle Daybreak, and three set all the slaves down here free. And since I'm the only one who trusts her, she brought me along to help her out."

Delos looked confused, "What do you mean? Maggie's one of the most trust worthy people I know—the former slaves back where I lived called her the deliverer…"

Rogue shifted uncomfortably, knowing that if she explained why to him, he'd know that she was a vampire. And she didn't know if Maggie wanted him to know until she had the chance to explain it herself. "I think that's something you'll need to talk to Maggie about,"

Delos didn't seem to like that answer. "Why?"

Rogue looked away from him and shrugged, "Because I think it's something she wants to talk to you about in person. I don't think she'd appreciate it if you heard it from someone else."

Delos still didn't look happy with that answer, but he didn't try to push it any further. For a moment they were silent, taking one another in. finally Delos softened. "Could I ask you something?" Rogue nodded, "How…I mean….does she…I…"

Rogue smiled softly. "She's one of the strongest people I've ever met—she doesn't really talk much, but I can tell that she thinks about you all the time. And yet even though I'm sure she's felt like she's wanted to give up, she never has. She's never shown anything but strength to those who would enjoy to see her miserable, and she's always thought of others first—sometimes too much for her own good." Delos snorted, and Rogue assumed that she hadn't changed much since the last time he'd seen her, "And…I can tell she not only misses you, but she loves you very much."

Delos suddenly looked terribly vulnerable, like some child who's lost something dear to them. He slowly turned away, looking off into space with a longing expression. Slowly Rogue stepped forward and placed and gentle hand on his shoulder. "Like you said, we're going to get out of here—and when we do, Maggie will be right there waiting for us."

Delos smiled softly but it was a painful smile. "You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to that," he whispered.

KKK

I lay the three pieces of paper out on the table, each one of them containing a rough sketch of each floor of the castle. Rashel and Quinn bent over them, while a young shapeshifter discussed with me the surrounding areas of the castle. "So it's all forest?" She clarified.

I nodded my head, "It's a little hilly as well,"

The girl's eyes brightened. "Hilly is good. Hills give us some high ground and the forest should give us some protection should they decide to use arrows to try to stop us." Pictures from the Lord of the Rings movie flashed into my mind instantly, and I shuddered. I'd never been in a war before, and I really hoped it wasn't like that.

Although it would be interesting to watch Alec set himself on fire and jump off the top floor of his castle like the Steward of Gondor had.

"If they're captured they'll probably be down in the dungeon." Quinn suddenly said, looking up at me. "Do you have any idea how many guards will be down there?"

I shook my head, "It was sort of a goal of mine to not go down there, if you know what I mean. I don't particularly enjoy hanging out in dungeons, I don't know about you."

"I think they're quite roomy," Rashel muttered under her breath sarcastically.

I stared at the place where I'd drawn the dungeon door; Quinn was right. If they were captured—and not dead, I hoped—they'd be down there. It was on the first level, and if we broke into the castle it might be easy to reach once you got past all the guards that were trying to kill you.

If Delos was in there, I thought, I wanted to be the one to set him free.

I looked up and met Rashel's eyes, "I'll take care of the dungeon—you guys concentrate on bringing the place down."

"No you won't," Miles's voice suddenly barked from behind me, ringing with the protectiveness of an older brother. I whirled around and placed my hands on my hips, staring at him defiantly.

"Miles, I told you—I'm coming with you on this operation and you can't stop me." Miles stared at her a long time before he scowled and started towards her. "What are you doing?" I asked, irritation rising with every step he took. He ignored me.

Instead he faced Rashel, Quinn and the shapeshifter and said in a voice as polite as possible, "Excuse us for a moment," and then he grabbed my wrist, turned and started to pull me out of the tent.

Shock rippled through me and it didn't occur to me to fight back until we were outside the tent. "Let go Miles!" I cried, pulling on my hand. His grip tightened instantly. "Seriously Miles, let go of me!"

Miles whirled around, his face filled with anger, "Stop it Maggie, stop it right now—we need to talk and I'm tired of you trying to get out of it." I stopped struggling instantly and he finished dragging me into an empty tent. He released me and closed the flap, taking a deep breath in. Finally he whirled around, "What is going on here, Maggie?"

"What do you mean?" I demanded, confused—had I done anything to offend him? Okay, maybe rip out that guy's throat in front of him, but still.

Miles shook his head, "You're not the same," He insisted.

"Of course I'm not, what did you expect? I'm a freaking vampire now Miles."

"And I'm a shapeshifter, but I haven't changed—maybe I've gotten a little more adventurous, but besides that I've been the same…"

"Changing into a shapeshifter isn't exactly the same as being changed into a vampire Miles," I finally snapped, "Don't you get it? I have to drink blood to survive! You don't have to do anything to survive—if you wanted, you don't even have to change and you wouldn't be affected! I've spent six months all alone in an unfamiliar place with the people who set this whole operation up in the first place! Heck, I've even barely escaped getting raped, and I escape and instead of feeling safe, like everything's going to go back to normal, I feel embarrassed and guilty and downright ashamed!" I whirled away from him, trying to keep the tears from falling down my face.

"Why do you feel that way?" Miles asked quietly.

"Because look at me, Miles!" I faced him again, indicating myself with my hands, "I'm a Night Person now—I had to freaking drink your blood, my own brother's blood to survive! I've sunken to a new low and not only that but I've lost Rogue in the process! And it's all my fault!"

"It's not you're…"

"Yes it is, Miles—I could have gone back like you told me to, but I didn't. I could have stayed and protected her, but instead…and now we don't know if either Delos or Rogue is even alive!" Miles obviously looked at a loss—he hadn't been prepared to deal with this, and he didn't have the experience to make up for his un-preparation. I sighed, "Look Miles—I know you don't want me to go—but I was the one who lost Rogue in the first place, and I'd also like to rescue my soulmate. Please don't deny me of this." Miles stared at me for a long moment as though he wanted to say something but finally he sighed and nodded.

I smiled faintly. "Thank you Miles."

And tomorrow, I thought, I'll be there to rescue Rogue and Delos.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**This chapter amused me greatly--angsty people and sarcastic remarks galore. **

**MAJOR CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER! **

**REVIEW!**

**Love**

**Alice**


	11. Chapter 10

"What do you plan to do with the girl?" Alec looked up from his desk at the sound of Blade's voice, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What girl?" Alec asked casually, "There are many girls that I know that I like to do things with…"

Blade narrowed his eyes in irritation. "The human girl—the one you put in the dungeon this morning." No matter how hard Blade tried, he couldn't seem to remember her name.

"I put a human girl in the dungeon this morning?" Alec questioned, but Blade could tell that he knew exactly who he was talking about.

"Maggie's accomplice," Blade clarified, his patience running thin.

"Ah her," Alec nodded slowly, "What do you care what I do to her?" Blade's expression darkened, indicating that he wasn't in the mood to answer Alec's questions. Alec, seeing this, shrugged. "I don't know—I haven't decided yet. Maybe drink her dry, since Maggie sure seemed to like feeding from her. She must be tasty." Alec looked up at him, his face slowly twisting into amusement. "You're not getting attached are you?"

Blade scoffed his eyes hardening. "Of course not—it's ridiculous to even suggest it," But as he said it, there was a sinking feeling in his stomach, the kind of feeling you get when you first tell a big lie, one you know that if found out, could get you into very big trouble. Blade shuddered—he didn't even want to think about that.

Alec burst out laughing and turned back to his work, "Yes, knowing you it is a silly suggestion." Blade frowned as he turned away without calling goodbye to Alec and walked out of the room. He walked a ways down the hallway, his footsteps echoing emptily in the corridor. About half way down the corridor, he stopped, staring down at the floor with hard eyes.

Was it really a silly suggestion?

KKK

I found myself in a position I never thought I'd be in again. I crouched in the trees that resided on one of the hills that surrounded Alec's castle, looking down upon it as the first rays of sun shone upon it. We'd set out early in the morning, moving through the dark woods at a slow pace while Miles scouted ahead, looking for the castle. When he found it, he then proceeded to lead us to it.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Miles asked his voice next to my ear. I kept my gaze on the castle, my stomach clenching and unclenching with nerves. I slowly turned to look at him, my expression as blank as possible.

"Of course I'm not—but then again, I don't think anyone really is." I turned back, squinting my eyes to try to get a better look at the protecting wall of the castle. Although I couldn't see anyone besides a few guards, I couldn't help but wonder if secretly, behind that wall, if they were ready for our attack, waiting as anxiously as we were for it.

Questions swarmed in my mind—what if we were walking into a trap? What if we lost this battle? What if I died before this was over?

More importantly, what if someone I loved died? And could I face that possibility?

I shuddered away from the question instantly, refusing to let the pictures of my brother—he got Jeanne to stay behind—Rogue…Delos, surface into my mind. I didn't even want Rashel or Quinn, who had treated me with hospitality, to get hurt.

I was pulled out of my worries by a large hand covering my small one. "I've got your back," Miles whispered, giving my hand a squeeze.

I looked down at our entwined hands and squeezed back, a smile forming over my face. It was moments like these that I was reminded of my deep affection for my brother—we might get into disagreements, and we didn't always understand each other, but we still had each other's back, no matter what. "Let's do this," I whispered as Rashel moved into my line of vision.

Rashel looked at me for a moment before she turned to the rest of the army, her expression hardened and she nodded before she whirled and faced the castle, pulling out her two-footed wooden samurai sword.

And then we advanced.

It wasn't like the way movies depicted war at all—no one uttered a sound as we as quietly as possible ran down through the salty-mist blown in from the sea. There were no battle cries, no bomb-explosions, ice-chilling rain to set the mood—it was simply as any other ordinary day. The difference was that we just happened to brandish weapons. It was like a dangerous game of hide-and-go-seek.

And there were no cries of alarm from the castle, I thought with amazement; if this were a movie, the other side would be scrambling into formation…

Cries of alarm suddenly sprang up from the castle wall.

Well, I thought grimly as we approached the wall, there they go.

Miles, who'd kept pace with me the entire time, now sped up and stopped in front of the wall, whirling to face me. He cupped and intertwined his hands together and held them towards me. "JUMP," he cried.

I took a glance up the 20-foot wall—the old Maggie would have hesitated and thought her brother had gone nuts. I still thought my brother was a bit nuts, but I didn't hesitate.

I yanked my wooden sword out of my sheath and leaped up, landing one-footed in Miles's hands, my leg muscles coiled. A split second later as miles thrusted me up, I pushed down, using as much leg muscle to shoot me as high as possible.

And then I was soaring up the stone wall, the wind rushing through my hair as I cleared the top, my grip tightening on the sword. Still in the air, my eyes scanned the inside of the castle walls, noting what I was up against.

There were a few guards on the wall's platform, running frantically to positions. Other guards were scrambling behind the wall at ground level, trying to get mobilized with weapons. As I started to fall back to the wall's ledge, my eyes caught what I needed to get to—the pulley system to open the large wooden gate that blocked the army from entrance into the castle.

I landed gracefully on the wall's ledge, landing in front of a shocked vampire guard who regarded me with wide eyes.

"Good morning," I greeted as I raised my sword and thrusted without thinking into the vampire's chest.

The vampire's body immediately stiffened and it stared at me like a deer in headlights until the light faded from its eyes and his body went slack, dropping from my sword like a rag doll, blood splattering onto the wooden platform.

Adrenaline rushed through my body as I stepped down onto the platform, my eyes starting at my blood-stained sword.

_Holy crud,_ I thought, I just killed a man who hadn't done a thing to me…

_Stop it!_ My rational voice snapped,_ don't hyperventilate over this! You've started a war—its kill or be killed here. _

It was right—the one thing movies got right was the law of kill-or-be-killed. If I didn't kill, I, Circle Daybreak, Delos and the slaves would all fall subject to the enemy.

I whirled around in the direction of the pulley with that thought clear in my mind. Protect those I love, I kept thinking as another vampire rushed at me, his sword drawn.

We ran full on at one another, stopping only when our swords clashed against one another. He pressed against me with a strong force that made my muscles start to quiver, but I forced myself to keep pushing till I'd pushed his sword against his chest. The vampire grunted, indicating that he was starting to weaken under pressure.

I chose that moment to slide my sword out from under his and dodge to the left when his sword came crashing down.

He stumbled, leaving himself open and I took that chance to penetrate his chest with a hard thrust through his back. I yanked the sword back out a second later when I was sure it had gotten his heart and bolted to the pulley.

Miles—who had undoubtedly flown up—was already there when I arrived, slowly pulling on one side of the pulley. "Help me out here," He grunted when I was close enough. I quickly surveyed my surroundings, satisfied to find the majority of the guards concentrating on the outside and then turned my attention back to my brother, my hands grasping one of the spokes.

We both pulled together, using our supernatural strength to pull the pulley slowly, the gate groaning as it opened just as slowly. I could faintly hear shouts of alarm coming from the guards, but I paid them no attention. The main goal right then was to get the gate open so that the army had free reign of the castle.

We pulled for a long while until finally the gate was open. Miles had me hold the pulley in place while he fetched the rope and started to tie knots that only he, a frequent climber, knew how to do in order to keep it from lowering the gate. When he was done, I whirled around, my eyes scanning around.

Guards had started to come up the steps to get to the platform in order to stop us, but already Circle Daybreak members were there, fighting them off and keeping them distracted—man they worked fast, I thought in admiration. "Someone needs to guard the pulley until everyone is in the castle," I told Miles, crouching and getting into fighting stance, "You go and help fight and I'll…"

"No you won't," Miles interrupted. I glanced over my shoulder at him, my eyes narrowed in disbelief. Was he still trying to argue with me? But the look on Miles face told me this time it would take force to make him do what I wanted. "You need to go and find Delos and Rogue, not waste your time guarding the pulley." He pulled a sword from his sheath at his side, "I know how to fight—I'll guard it and then join back up with you."

I measured him with my eyes, trying to find a weakness as an excuse to get him to go and fight, but I found none. After a moment I sighed, "You take care of yourself Miles," I told him, reaching over the pulley to hug him tightly, "I love you, big bro," I whispered into his ear. Miles gave me a tight squeeze.

"Love you too, little sis," he whispered back, "Now go kick some butt,"

KKK

I dodged and ran through the corridors, avoiding as many confrontations with guards as possible. It was sort of like a video game, when you're trying to reach the end of the level so you take short cuts and skip over bad guys in order to get to your destination faster. Of course there were moments when I was forced to stop and fight—twice now I'd come close to being staked, but the thought of Delos waiting for me spurred me on to keep fighting.

But that also meant that I was quickly tiring, something the movies never showed. In the movies, the heroine and hero never got tired—injured, maybe, but not tired. They always fought fiercely without seeming to break a sweat.

But I was quickly finding that that wasn't the case—my muscles were screaming at me to stop and rest, just for a little while, but I kept pressing forward, afraid that if I stopped for even a millisecond, my life could end in an ironically sad ending. _Keep….going;_ I kept thinking to myself, _you're almost…there….keep…._

And then I turned the last corner and the door to the dungeon was in plain sight…

As well as a particularly big, strong guard, who was probably a shapeshifter.

I stopped the second he caught sight of me, his eyes wide with surprise before a look of sheer anticipation crossed his face as he started to change, his face starting to pull back and his hands starting to form into big hairy paws with large, dangerous looking claws.

This wasn't a fight for a wooden sword that much I knew now. I quickly sheathed my sword and crouched, my fangs starting to grow and my finger nails lengthening into menacing claws—not as big as the shapeshifters, but menacing enough.

Attack now, my instincts were screaming at me, he's weaker when he's still changing, attack now! I was always one to listen to my instincts—which was probably why I got into so much trouble in the first place—so I quickly obeyed, springing from my crouch and charging forward.

My instincts were right this time—the shapeshifter seemed surprised by my head-on attack and didn't try to defend itself as I launched myself at him, digging my claws into its furry skin and sinking my fangs immediately into its exposed neck, drawing blood into my mouth.

The shapeshifter roared in protest and jerked around with such a force that it threw me off, sending me flying back onto the ground. I shook my head to clear the wave of dizziness that had suddenly washed over me and jumped back onto my feet a moment before the shapeshifter launched itself at me, its mouth filled with large, sharp-looking teeth that was aimed at my own neck. I quickly threw myself to the left, barely having time to regain my balance before I heard the shapeshifter hit the floor.

I whirled to face it the moment it was back on its feet, its eyes filled with hate towards me as it launched at me again. This time I dove under it, feeling the air whoosh over me as it went by, and hearing the BANG of the door as it hit it.

Now was my chance, I knew as I stood up, putting all my energy into my next attack.

Without really planning my next move, I brought my foot off the ground and swung it, putting all my weight into the attack into a round-house kick which landed squarely on the shapeshifters head. The shapeshifter, in return, was knocked hard back into the wooden door, which because it was already cracked from him throwing himself into it a moment before, broke under his weight and sent him crashing down the wooden steps.

I watched, breathing hard as the shapeshifter rolled, hearing the snap of broken bones with each roll. Finally it stopped at the bottom of the stairs and even I could tell from up here that by the way its head was bent that it had broken its neck. I watched it for a moment nevertheless, making sure that it didn't move. When it didn't move, I sighed and slowly started to descend the stairs, my mind turning back to what I might find down there.

About halfway down, and still out of sight of the prison, I stopped. What if he wasn't there? What if Alec had decided to kill them both, and this whole thing was all for nothing? The thought made my stomach clench in despair and tears started to spring to my eyes, but I held them back.

If they were dead, either one of them, I would make this battle worth-wile; I'd kill Alec myself. The resolution might have been impulsive, but I knew I'd follow through on it, even if it killed me.

So slowly, ever so slowly, I started down the cold stone steps, my breath caught in my throat. At the bottom I finally was in sight of the prison, but although I could see it plainly, my mind wouldn't register the way I wanted it to.

Right in front of me was Delos and Rogue, Delos in front as though to protect Rogue from whatever had killed the shapeshifter. But he'd gone rigid, his eyes wide as he caught sight of me. I could hear his heavy breathing from where I stood, while I myself couldn't breathe at all.

My insides were melting, all the emotions from the past six months trying to surface all at once and I did my best to hold them back. But I could feel the tears start to fall down my face nevertheless as I started to stumble forward. "Delos," I was rasping breathlessly and I started to break into a run, my heart wrenching with unbelievable longing.

I reached him in no time, my arms—which unlike his, were small enough to get through the bars comfortably and quickly—wrapped around his neck while his fingers grabbed at my face gently. We pulled towards one another, and our mouths greedily found one another, and we started kissing each other fervently. Each time we pulled away to breath, Delos moaned my name, "Maggie…oh Maggie…I…are you…why are you…?" I kept kissing him, everything flying out of my mind. For that moment, there was no battle going on, there were no bars between us—it was just him and I, our lips meeting and separating and meeting again, my fingers tangled in his hair and his fingers tracing every bit of my face.

But eventually my mind started to remember why I was down here and what was going on upstairs. "Delos," He kissed me again, passionately, and I kissed him back, but I latched onto the thoughts so that they wouldn't run away from me again. When he pulled away, I continued, "I need…" kiss, "to get…" kiss, "You out…" kiss.

"It can wait," Delos whispered back, his voice as vulnerable as I'd ever heard it—but then again I was sure mine was too.

He kissed me again, but this time I pulled away, "Delos, we're going to have to continue this later," Delos sighed, but nevertheless he stopped kissing me like a mad man, but his fingers still traced my face. I brushed his hair back from his forehead.

"You're right," He whispered, but his eyebrows furrowed as he took another good look at me, and I instantly knew what he was seeing—all the changes that came with being a vampire, something I knew he'd see right off. "But why, may I ask, are you a vampire?" His voice was starting to fill with anger, indicating that he already had a pretty good idea of how I got this way. And he wasn't happy about it.

"If I wasn't a vampire, I would have died that night six months ago," I whispered, "I'll explain more later; where are the keys?"

Rogue, who had been standing—probably rather uncomfortably—took a step forward and answered me. "They're not down here—Blade is the only one who has the keys." I turned my attention to her, but I could tell that Delos wasn't giving her all of his attention.

"How do you know?" I questioned nervously.

Rogue shrugged, "All of the slaves know that—you'd have to kill him to get the keys, because otherwise he's not going to cough them up." I bit my lip—this certainly posed a challenge. Why couldn't have this been like the movies, where all I had to do was grab them off a hook or catch the dog that carried them in its mouth? Why did I have to fight and possibly kill the toughest guy in Alec's entire kingdom?

But I had to do it. There was no other way to get them out. I looked back up at Delos, gently brushing his hair back away from his forehead—he had such nice, soft hair; I'd forgotten how much I'd liked to play with it. I smiled a sad smile and leaned up; giving him a kiss that held so much emotion it scared even me. Delos reluctantly kissed back, because this time he knew something was up.

I pulled away, pulling my arms back through the bars and stepping away from him so that he couldn't grab me when he realized my practically suicidal plan. Already he was giving me a suspicious look. "What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Going to get you out, that's what." I replied.

"You aren't going to go after Blade, are you?" Rogue's voice was filled with worry, "He's not some average Joe that doesn't know what he's doing, Maggie! You'll get yourself killed!"

Delos, who this time paid attention, went stiff. "No, absolutely not! We'll figure something else out, we don't need keys…"

"Delos you know very well that isn't going to happen—otherwise you would have gotten yourself out a long time ago." I started to back away further.

"Maggie, get back here! This is not a time for one of your crazy plans!" Delos shouted, his voice filled with hopeless desperation.

"War is in itself a crazy expedition in which equally crazy plans are justifiable." I replied, forcing myself to turn back around and start for the stairs, all the while Delos yelling demands for me to get back there and to not try anything stupid. I ignored him as best as I could, trying to push back my fear.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I stopped, taking a deep breath before I turned back to Delos. His expression was filled with fury and fear for me. I slowly smiled a sad smile, "I love you Delos," I told him before I turned and ran up the stairs, Delos's shouts following me the entire way.

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**YAY THEY'RE BACK TOGETHER!....Kind of. Well, sorry if this chapter was kind of bleh writting wise--I'm still working on writting battle scenes. XD **

**-sigh- this weekend has just been a little weird, so sorry i didn't update once a day like I normally do. I'll try to update soon, but this week is looking complicated as well. **

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	12. Chapter 11

I as quietly as possible tip-toed up to Blade's quarters, breathing as silently as possible through my nose. As I've mentioned before, I follow my instincts, and my instincts were telling me that he'd still be up here, probably trying to get ready for battle or something. My heart was pounding in my head the closer I got, my eyes fixed upon the door ahead of me.

This might be my last few moments on this earth, I thought as I gripped the hilt of my wooden sword tighter, I might die tying to set free Delos and Rogue. Delos, I knew, was still probably trying to reach me by mind, trying to get me to come back down to him, but I refused to concentrate on it. I put every thought I had into jumping Blade and defeating him.

I approached the door, trying to take deep, silent, steadying breaths to keep myself calm. Slowly, I leaned against the door till my ear was pressed against it, closing my eyes and shutting the world out to listen hard. For a moment I couldn't hear anything and dread started to settle in, but then I heard the sound of wood hitting metal and a snarled curse following a CLASH of metal on the floor.

He's in there, I thought to myself grimly, this is my chance—its now or never.

I took a deep breath, held it, gripped the door knob and swung the door open and rain in…

Where Blade—leaning down to pick up a fallen steel dagger—looked up with shock and startled surprise written all over his face.

I closed the distance between us instantly and jumped at him before he could get his bearings, knocking both of us to the hard floor.

He fought half-heartedly against me as we rolled and I had a feeling that it was only because he'd been so surprised by my entrance. With one big heave, I knocked him onto his back, me on top, and pressed the tip of my wooden sword into his neck. He stared up at me in total disbelief, breathing hard. "Are you nuts?" he asked, not quite snarling, "Or do you have a death wish?" I couldn't help but snicker at the irony of his questions; hadn't Delos once asked me that? Blade looked me as though I were insane.

"Maybe," I mused, "Maybe it's both—love makes you do some crazy things." Blade looked even more confused, so I rolled my eyes and clarified, "My soulmate is in that dungeon—and I know you're the only one with the key." My eyes narrowed and the tip of the sword dug a little deeper into his neck, "Where is it Blade?"

Blade bit out a harsh laugh, "You really are insane," He laughed but there was no humor in it, "Even if I handed the key over to you, you still wouldn't be able to make it past the guard…"

"I've already taken care of that—you'll find him with his neck snapped at the bottom of the stairs." Blade didn't reply to that—he merely stared at me in complete disbelief, as though he were truly seeing me for the first time. "I'm serious about this Blade—I'm willing to die for him. All you have to do is give me the key and there'll be no trouble."

Blade regarded me with a look that surprised me—it wasn't the malice I expected from him. Instead, it was a searching, thoughtful expression. "You said he was your soulmate."

My eyebrows furrowed in suspicion—why, of all people, did Blade care about my relationship with Delos? "Yes," I reluctantly answered.

Blade was silent for a moment, the searching look on his face never wavering. "Would you really do anything for him? Give up your life—everything?" Okay, Blade must have hit his head when I jumped him, I thought. This wasn't at all like him—normally he would have been fighting me like crazy to get me off of him despite the sword tip at his neck. But he was just lying there, staring up at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yes," I answered truthfully, but in confusion, "I don't understand how this has anything to do with the location of the…"

"Top drawer of my dresser," I blinked at him. I blinked again. "Well, are you going to get it?" I sat there, staring at him.

"Why?" I finally managed to gasp out, "I don't understand…"

Blade's expression tightened. "Because you're right—you should do anything and everything to protect your soulmate, even if you are different." I shook my head—Blade, have a soulmate? The idea might have made me laugh a few days ago, but after seeing Delos again and feeling his mind connect with mine again, I didn't doubt that even someone as cruel as Blade could have a soulmate. But who…?

And then I knew. "Rogue," I whispered in disbelief, "You're soulmates with Rogue," It wasn't a question—it was a statement of fact. Blade's expression tightened and he looked away from me. "How…how long have you known?"

Blade was silent and I wondered if he was going to answer me, but after a moment of silence he replied, "For a while now, I suppose. I wasn't really aware of it until I was forced to put her in that terrible place."

"Why didn't you ever say something to her?" Part of me was angry—he'd had every chance to help her, save her, do something for her, and yet he'd ignored her and treated her like vermin, "Why didn't you ever do anything for her?"

Blade's gaze snapped to mine as quick as lightning, "Because I couldn't without getting both of us killed, that's why!" the look on his face…all the anger suddenly vanished just by looking at his face. He looked so torn, so heart broken…

Almost like Delos had when the ice around him shattered.

"You don't understand…but you of all people should! Alec even told you why, practically! Alec hates soulmates…if I'd even recognized that we were soulmates, he would have had us both killed." Blade shook his head, "It would have been better for me not to have recognized it."

I stared at him, and I could feel that my jaw had dropped open. I closed it, meditating on his words—he was right. Alec would have killed me if I hadn't had the wooden knife on me. He would have killed both Blade and Rogue—and as a soulmate, I knew that if it came to staying away from Delos in order to save his life, I'd do it.

But things were changing now.

"Alec's kingdom will fall," I promised Blade, "And when it does…you and Rogue can get out of here and live together in peace. But you're the one who needs to help us now. By doing so, she might soften up a bit—because she's probably not too happy with you right now, if you know what I mean." As I spoke, however convincing I thought I sounded, Blade was shaking his head.

"It's not possible," he interrupted.

"What do you mean?" I demanded angrily, "Of course it's possible!"

"No—the only way you can take down Alec and the kingdom is to set the slaves free—something I highly doubt you could do on your own. They won't listen to a Night Person—which is what you are—and they're too frightened to leave on their own." I considered his words carefully—they made sense. The slaves refused to talk or even look at me in the eye until I led Alec down the hallway with two wooden knives turned on him. I thought I'd seen some kind of respect in their eyes as I'd passed them, but I didn't know if that was only just a momentary thing.

But I still had to try.

"I'll set them free," I announced, getting up and off of him, sheathing my sword. Blade sat up quickly, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"You're crazy—I just told you…"

"I know what you said; but it's still worth a try." I started for his drawers, talking as I went, "I realize that they might not listen to me because of what I am, but I've still got to try—for Delos, for Rogue…" I paused, looking back at him seriously, "And, although I can't believe I'm saying this, and for you." we stared at one another for a long moment. It was obvious that Blade thought I was still insane, and who knows, maybe I was, but I could see the reluctant respect in his eyes.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked. I turned back to the drawer, opening the top one and pulling out the only item that was in it—the keys.

"Sort of—I've been making this up as I go." I stared at the keys in my hands, my mind working through the possibilities. Finally I took a deep breath and whirled back around, tossing the keys at him. "You're going to go free them."

Blade's jaw dropped in shock, "What?" He gasped out.

I shrugged, "If I'm going to free the slaves, I'm going to have to do it now and concentrate on it. I can't take the time to go back down there—besides, if I did and Delos knew my plan, he'd deem it as suicidal and not let me go,"

"Because it _is_ suicidal," Blade interrupted, "You're the craziest person I've ever met, you know that?" I shrugged my shoulders again.

"Maybe," I replied, "but that doesn't matter—what matters is that you set them free and do whatever possible to get Rogue out."

"What about Delos?"

I paused. Delos no longer had the blue fire to protect him, but wasn't he already capable of defending himself without it? I didn't know the answer to that question—I assumed he would, since he was a vampire and…well, surely he was taught fencing as a child?

I didn't know the question to that either, but now I was just going to have to trust him. There was no way that he'd leave here without me safe in his arms. I knew that if our situations were reversed, I wouldn't be able to do it either. "Let him do as he pleases once he's out." I replied to Blade, "I don't know what he'll do."

Blade snorted, "I have a feeling he's going to want to rip Alec apart, but that's just me." I raised my eyebrows but didn't disagree with him. Now that I thought about it, he probably would.

"Well, good luck," I said as I started to walk out, feeling Blade's eyes on me as I went, "Oh," I stopped at the door and turned around, giving him a sarcastic smile, "And may the force be with you,"

Blade blinked at me in confusion, "What?"

I shook my head, chuckling to myself, "Nothing."

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He'd had no idea that Delos's soulmate was so insane, Blade thought as he approached the broken apart door that lead to the dungeon, his stomach tightening in anticipation. He'd never thought he'd be in this situation either though—he never thought he'd be on a rescue mission to save Alec's enemy and a human—his soulmate, Rogue, he knew now—from certain death by the man he was supposed to be loyal to.

But although his mind reasoned that what he was doing was suicidal and crazy, and that he should be out there helping defend Alec's castle, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not now, not when he knew Rogue, his soulmate, would die if he didn't do something to save her.

He descended the stairs, his eyes instantly catching sight of the dead shapeshifter at the bottom of the stairs. She wasn't kidding, Blade thought, his eyebrows rose as he stepped over the body….

"YOU!" the snarled, distorted with fury, voice made Blade snap his attention to the prison. Delos stood there, his hands gripping the bars so tightly Blade could see his knuckles turn white, his lips curled over his sharpened canines, and his eyes a frightening liquid gold color. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?"

Blade stared at him for a moment before turning his attention to the cowering figure behind Delos. Instantly he softened, a small smile coming over his lips, "Are you alright Rogue?" Rogue's dark eyes widened in confusion, but before she could reply Delos was raging on.

"WHERE IS SHE? I SWEAR, IF YOU'VE…"

"She's not dead," Blade instantly snapped, annoyed with Delos—he didn't ever think he'd become friends with Delos, even if they did happen to make it through this battle. Delos still stood there, looking like he would rip Blade's head off if he came too close. Blade sighed irritably—he probably needed to explain before he let Delos out. "We've come to a truce—I'm here to set you two free."

Both Delos and Rogue looked at him as though he'd told them he'd been mauled by a pink flying unicorn two seconds ago. And he didn't blame them—who would have thought he'd be doing this? "I know you two don't understand, and…well, I promise to explain it to you later Rogue, because it has to do with you…but right now the important thing is that I set you free, get Rogue out of here safely, and…well, you can do whatever you want Delos."

"Where is she?" Delos obviously thought about Maggie twenty four seven, that much was clear to Blade now. Blade shrugged his shoulders.

"She went to go free the slaves—otherwise this kingdom will never truly fall. It needs slaves—if she frees the slaves, the kingdom will fall permanently." Delos had gone very still while Blade was filling him in, his eyes wide with horror.

"She went off by herself?" Delos clarified, his voice no longer threatening but cold with fright.

Blade shrugged, "She seemed like she knew what she was doing—I'm sure she'll…"

"Let me out, RIGHT NOW!" Delos shouted, giving the bars such a hard shake that Blade almost thought he'd break through right then and there.

Blade shrugged and went forward, pulling the key out and shoving it into the lock. He gave his wrist a twist and the lock clicked, indicating that it was now unlocked. Delos was the first at the door, and as soon as Blade pulled it open just a bit, Delos shoved his way through, pushing Blade back a little as he raced for the stairs.

Blade stood looking after him, his eyes wide. Before today, he might have grown angry and gone after Delos to teach him a lesson, but now…

A hand covered his gloved one and he looked down to find Rogue staring up at him, her eyes wide and sincere. "Thank you," She whispered, "You have no idea how much that means to the both of them that you did that."

Blade softened, his hand gripping hers and tightened slightly. "I think I do know now," he replied. When Rogue gave him a confused look, Blade shook his head. "I'll explain later," he assured her, "first let's get you safe, okay?"

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**Lawlz, this was certainly an interesting chapter. But it took a while to write, just because a lot was going on. Battle scenes always wear me out. XD **

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


	13. Chapter 12

I ran through the courtyard, jumping over dead and wounded bodies, dodging battles left and right as much as I could. A few times I was forced to stop and kill off a werewolf or a vampire, but I still kept plowing forward. It was like a video game, I noted with amusement—if you didn't want to deal with killing a bunch of people, you just plowed on forward till you reached the end of the level.

This seemed to be exactly what I was doing now. Whenever I was chased, I could always count on someone else on my side to take the pursuer down before too long. When the pursuer wasn't taken down, it was then that I turned and used the appropriate weapon to kill them. I couldn't risk being followed into the servant's quarters.

Reaching the servant's quarters seemed to take years, but finally I reached the huts in the corner, throwing myself against the biggest hut's door and pushing my way in. This thing is heavier than I thought, I noted as I pushed it open…and then saw that the servants had gathered together in the hut and had pushed everything up against the door. Like that was suitable defense against a Night World person.

But now wasn't time for a lesson in defense, I thought as I pushed my way into the hut and closed the door behind me, now was the time for convincing.

I faced the hut full of wide-eyed, terrified servants, trying to make myself look both friendly and determined at the same time. For a moment I didn't know what to say—what was I supposed to say to get them to trust me enough to lead them out of here? It wasn't like before—I was a vampire now, their biggest enemy. And looking at their faces, I knew that that's what they were thinking as well. "Um, hey guys," I finally stated, my voice more sheepish than I'd originally planned.

They all stared at me like deer in head lights before finally an older woman—probably in her thirties—stepped forward. "What do you want, vampire?" She snapped; I knew she'd never talk to a vampire this way normally, but I supposed that it didn't matter now that their home was getting ravaged by Circle Daybreak.

I cleared my throat, "Look, I know what you're thinking," I started, "You're looking at me and you're thinking, 'she's a vampire; what could she possibly want with us other than to torture us and make our lives miserable?' Well, my purpose is exactly the opposite. I want to set you guys free."

For a moment they all stared at me. And then slowly, very slowly, the woman in front of me started to smile—maybe this was easier than I thought! Blade shouldn't have worried so much!

But then she started to laugh.

"You, a vampire, want to set us free? How stupid do you think we are? We don't trust your kind..."

"Do any of you remember me?" I interrupted, adrenaline bursting through my body—I had to get them out of here, or else the kingdom would never fall. I watched as recognition started to form in some of the servant's eyes. "I'm the one that Alec turned into a vampire against her will—I'm the one who, along with Rogue, started a mini-mutiny in order for escape. I'm the one who threatened his life—and now I'm the one who threatens his kingdom.

"I know each and every one of you want to get back at him for what he's done to you—and I can do that! I've been in your situation before—I was once a slave just like you. I'm the one who turned the Black Kingdom completely around; their slaves are free now because of me. And I know how we can not only free you guys, but also bring this kingdom down to the ground!" I motioned to the battle behind us.

"Right this moment, Circle Daybreak and Alec's army are battling it out and from what I can tell Alec is losing. They can bring the whole kingdom to the ground if they had to—but if we escape, there's no chance that this place will ever rise up again. We can put a stop to slavery—we can start new lives! And you can stop things like this from ever happening again—but first you're going to have to trust me to get you out safely." I stared at each and every one of them, "Who's with me?"

For a long moment, no one moved. They all stared at me like I had two heads. And then slowly, a young girl—probably around the age of 13—stepped forward. "I'm with you," She said, her voice timid but sure.

I started to relax as more and more people started to step forward, until finally everyone had stepped forward, their faces frightened but filled with hope. "Okay," I sighed, "now its kind of messy out there, and I need all of you to follow me—now does anyone know where I might find a horse?"

Instantly another girl—around my age—stepped forward, a bright smile on her face. "I'll go fetch you a horse, my lady!" I wanted to protest to being called 'my lady', but she was already out the door.

"Shouldn't someone go with her?" I asked, worried that she'd get hurt on the way to wherever she was going.

The woman who had stepped forward earlier shook her head. "If they're concentrated so much on killing each other like you say they are out there, then they won't pay any mind to one little servant girl." I nodded, not quite sure I agreed with her, but didn't say anything against it.

After about five minutes of waiting, the girl returned, a smile bright on her face. "The horse is outside my lady!"

"Thank you," I smiled at her before I whirled around and addressed the rest of the servants. "Now, you should be able to easily spot me if you get lost, but do try to follow me as close as possible!" I whirled around and went to the front door and opened it, my eyes taking in the scene before me.

At the moment it looked as if Alec's army was retreating—it really was kind of pathetic, given that Alec's kingdom was supposedly powerful…but then again, it probably didn't help that their captain happened to have a soulmate on our side. And from this angle I could see that even Alec was trying to fight off Circle Daybreak—and he was actually very good at it.

I gulped; knowing that the last thing I wanted was to be seen by Alec and have to fight him. Unlike Blade, Alec probably didn't have any reason to have a change of heart.

I shook my head, deciding to deal with it if it happened and strode towards the black stallion that the girl had brought me. I silently thanked Delos for teaching me how to ride as I grabbed the saddle horn and pulled myself up, throwing my leg over the other side of the horse. I grabbed hold of the reins and turned the horse so that I faced the door to the hut where the servants had started to gather. "Head for the front gate, quickly! Don't draw any attention to yourselves!"

They nodded and started to file out the door, running quickly towards the front gates. As expected, some of Alec's army noticed them escaping, but when they tried to move to stop them, Circle Daybreak members blocked their paths, swiftly killing them. As soon as the last servant was out of the hut, I pulled my horse to trot closely behind them, my body tense as I watched ahead for anyone who dared to try and stop them from leaving.

We were close to the gate when I heard the sound of running feet and shouting behind me. I whirled around in the saddle to find many of Alec's army rushing straight for us.

Quickly, I whirled around and kicked the horse into a canter in order to catch up to the head of the group, "RUN!" I shouted as I passed everyone, "KEEP GOING!" To the leader—which happened to be the woman who had first stepped forward, I ordered, "Keep going till you reach the trees and then stay low. Wait there until members of Circle Daybreak come to get you—you'll know them because they're wearing modern clothes like mine." I met her eyes, pleading for understanding, "Go!"

"What about you?" She demanded, huffing as she ran, "What are you going to do?"

I bit my lip—I hadn't wanted to keep fighting—I'd wanted to stay with the servants to protect them. Besides, I knew Delos wouldn't approve of me charging into battle. But I had to in order to keep the servants from being captured. "I'm going to fight them off, keep them away from you guys. Don't worry about me, just go!"

I didn't wait to listen to her reply; I pulled the reins sharply and turned the horse around, pulling out my wooden dagger from my sheath—from what I could tell, most of the people in the group were vampires—and they were gaining fast on the servants.

I kicked the horse into a full-sprinted gallop, yelling out a traditional cowboy whoop—hey, I was starting to have fun with this; might as well, right?—as I stood up in the stirrups, my striking arm poised with the wooden sword to strike. It wasn't much of a group—five vampires, maybe seven, but I knew that I didn't have the experience to go up against all those vampires alone. I could do one at a time, but not an entire group. I knew that by protecting the servants, I'd probably end up losing my life, but if it was the price I had to pay for bringing down Alec, I'd do it.

As I neared the group of vampires—who had quickly noticed me and were clearly ready for my attack—I heard the unmistakable sound of a hawk cawing from the air. I slightly slowed the horse, not daring to take my eyes from off the vampires. A split second later the hawk swooped down from behind, transforming back into human form as it touched ground.

"Miles!" I cried, yanking on the reins till the horse was almost at a stop. A split second later, Miles was joined by Rashel and Quinn, flanking him on either side.

The vampires stopped, their eyes wide with mild surprise; obviously they hadn't expected a shapeshifter, a vampire-hunter and a vampire to join me—but then again, neither had I. "Make sure they're out of here safely Maggie," Miles ordered, not turning around, "And don't come back! We'll catch up with you."

I hesitated, throwing a cautious look behind me at the retreating servants. "Alright," I finally agreed—war really wasn't my thing, even as a vampire. "Just don't get yourself killed," I whirled the horse around and kicked it forward without another word. "Be safe," I murmured, as though it were an after thought.

Truthfully I was more than worried for my brother—my brother, though he was a fighter, wasn't meant for battle. But I knew that Circle Daybreak needed him—the servants needed me now. I quickly caught up with them, shouting instructions to keep moving and to step up the pace.

I started to relax a bit as the group started to file out the gate, making a break for the woods. We did it, I thought with satisfaction, now Alec's kingdom will…

Movement out of the corner of my eye made my body freeze up and I had time to gasp before suddenly I heard the unmistakable sound of flesh being punctured. For a brief second I thought it was I that had gotten punctured, butt then my horse suddenly stopped, a ear-piercing scream emitting from its throat as it reared up. My stomach shot into my throat as I scrambled to hang onto the horse—I'd fallen from a horse once, and it wasn't something I wanted to experience again—and I tried to locate the cause of the horse's pain.

I quickly found it—the shaft of an arrow protruded from the chest of the horse. I groaned and tightened my grip on the horse as it reared practically vertical. There was no way this horse was going to stay up-right.

_Great,_ I thought sarcastically as I tried to get my feet out of the stirrups so that I could jump off, but as I was working on getting the right foot out I could feel the horse start to tilt to the left.

With panic practically choking me, I scrambled to get my foot out of the stirrup. The horse was half-way over when I got my right foot out, and with a feeling of dread I immediately worked to get my left one out.

But I wasn't fast enough—pain shot up my leg as the eight hundred pound animal landed its weight on my leg and I cried out. I bit my lip and forced myself to turn my head up so that I could get a look at the servants. A few had stopped when my horse had first reared up and were starting to inch back to me. "GO!" I shouted, thankful that they could hear me over the sounds of the battle behind me. "JUST GO!" I shouted again as I forced myself to start trying to crawl out from underneath the horse.

I relaxed momentarily when I saw them hesitantly turn and run out the gate—Alec couldn't get them as long as they stuck to the plan. But my relaxation was short lived. I knew I had a matter of a few seconds if the person who had shot my horse hadn't been killed yet. As I tugged on my foot, trying to drag myself from underneath the horse, I kept seeing the image of the mutant dog-things from thee second Lord of the Rings. The image of getting bitten—since the bite wouldn't actually kill me on account of wood being the only thing that could kill me, but I still wasn't interested in finding out how it felt—filled my mind and I managed to pull myself half-way from underneath the horse.

"Hello Maggie," My heart dropped—I knew that voice all too well. I gulped as I slowly strained my neck so that I could see Alec standing over the horse, his hands on his hips and a triumphant smirk on his face. "Too bad about the horse, don't you think? He was one of my best."

A feral snarl rippled from my throat as I glared up at him. "Maybe you should be more worried that your kingdom is tumbling to the ground as we speak." I snarled—I could feel my fangs start to indent my lower lip, but I ignored it. Instead I kept struggling to get out from under the horse without Alec noticing.

The smile on Alec's face faltered as a vicious expression flashed into his eyes. "Obviously there's nothing I can do about it," Alec snarled, "No thanks to you," He nodded towards the gate, "Why is it, Maggie," he spat, his hand going towards his wooden sword at his side. I started to pull harder without him noticing, trying to make it look like I wasn't up to something. "Why is it that whenever I see you, you're always doing something meddlesome?" We met eyes and suddenly, I knew that he wasn't going to wait for my answer.

I decided I didn't care whether he noticed or not, so with one big pull I yanked my foot from underneath the horse. I heard Alec hiss, but I didn't care at the moment—I pulled myself away from the horse and Alec as quickly as possible, my hands gripping at the dusty ground to propel me.

I looked up just in time to see Alec, with his sword poised to strike, come up towards me. _Get up!_ My mind screamed, _draw your sword!_ But Alec wasn't going to give me a chance—if I stood up then, he'd gut me right then.

I'm going to die, I thought, he's not like Blade—he's not going to suddenly have a change of heart. There's no way that I can hold my own in this battle!

But then I thought of Delos. I was so close to being with him—not only that, but I'd seen him! I'd kissed his lips, had felt his fingers on my face…I couldn't die now. Not when I'd been able to touch him!

With a new burst of determination, I snarled and kicked out blindly as hard as I could, trying to get him to back off so that I could get up. With a satisfying crunch, I kicked his arm, pushing him backwards and momentarily breaking his arm. Alec cried out in pain and I took that moment to scramble to my feet, my hand going to my sword and unsheathing it with one fluid motion.

Alec snarled, having regained some of his composure though his arm was still in the process of healing, and unsheathed his own sword. "Stupid girl," he growled, his own fangs protruding from his mouth.

I made no comment but instead shifted so that I was surer of my footing—even though my leg still throbbed. Suddenly Alec lunged, and I pulled up my sword to parry his strike. Wood clashed against wood, and his strength was surprising. I bit my lip till I tasted blood in order to keep from buckling under his strength. Alec seemed to see my weakness because he pushed harder against me.

_I can't take much of this,_ I thought just as I heard the unmistakable sound of wood starting to crack. I needed to do something.

With a shout I jumped back, missing his blade by inches as he lurched forward, his eyes wide with surprise. But he didn't stay down for long. He lunged towards me again, but I dodged to the left, lunging myself for his weak spot.

I was sure that I'd get him. I was so sure, but I should have known. Suddenly Alec reached over and grabbed hold of my wrist, twisting it till my sword dropped from my hand. I had time to watch it clatter to the floor before suddenly I myself was sailing head over feet till I landed with a THUD on the ground, the air knocked out of me.

I stared-wide eyed at the bright blue sky, knowing that there was nothing I could do now—I had no weapon and I didn't have anymore ideas to get me out of this situation. As Alec's face blocked my view from the sky, I wondered why I'd die on such a beautiful day. _At least the servants had escaped,_ I thought, _and at least Delos and Circle Daybreak would win…_

_Delos,_ I thought, _I'm so sorry._

"…not listening to me, are you?" Oh, Alec was talking? I wondered. Well, I was actually sort of sick of listening to him—I'd listened to him way too much and frankly I didn't wish to listen to him when I was about to die.

Apparently Alec wasn't too happy with my emotionless reactions to whatever he was saying, because suddenly sharp pain exploded at my side. I cried out and doubled over on the ground, my hands going to where the pain was. I was afraid he'd already struck me with his sword, but I felt no puncture wound. He must have just kicked me. Not that that made it any better, but still.

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" He yelled, his sword going to my neck. I glared up at him, a hiss escaping my lips.

"Go die, Alec." I spat, straightening myself out—I would look him in the eye when I died; I hoped it would haunt him till the day he died.

Which I hoped was sooner than later.

Alec's face twisted in rage as he raised his sword and thrust it down. But instead of staking me like I'd thought he would, the tip connected with my shoulder.

Pain turned my vision black for what seemed like hours, but I had not blacked out—I could still hear the battle, but what I mostly heard was an agonizing scream of pain. It took me a second to realize that it was _my_ scream of pain.

"Wrong answer Maggie," Alec laughed as he pulled the tip out. I opened my eyes a crack—when had I shut them?—to look at him.

He looked deranged.

My breathing became shallower as he placed the tip right over my heart and I could see in his eyes that this time he meant to stake me. I tried to look brave against the pain. "Don't look so angry Maggie," Alec laughed, starting to press the tip into my chest. My heart beat quickened with anticipation, "Think of it this way—if I catch up with Delos, I'll be happy to give him a quick death—not like the one I'm about to give you."

_This is it,_ I managed to think, _he's really going to do it, and I'm really going to die. _What a strange thought—it still seemed unrealistic even now that I was staring death in the face…

"MAGGIE!" The voice made Alec freeze in disbelief, and even through the pain I recognized it instantly.

I turned my head and locked gazes with Delos. All at once I could see the ice-cold fear in his gaze that was overpowered with a fierce determination that I recognized instantly. My eyes traveled down to his right arm where his left hand was still poised with a bloody wooden dagger. "CLOSE YOUR EYES!" he shouted as he stretched forth his right hand.

I closed them immediately and turned my face away despite the fact that I knew that Delos no longer had his blue fire. But though I knew that, I still knew when to do as Delos said and based on the look on his face, I knew that now was the time to do what he said and ask questions later.

And then, to my disbelief, the darkness in my eyelids was dispersed by bright blue light that I could see even when I squinted them as tightly as I could shut.

Delos' blue fire. Delos had his power back.

**KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK**

**I have an appology to make. I am so very sorry that I have not been able to update on my story for a while-but this time it wasn't just me being lazy or not wanting to continue this story. **

**First;**

**I had finals to study and take. If I got below a certain average, then I kid you not, I'd have to pay an extra two hundred dollars on my car insurance. T_T unfortunetly I'm the one who pays my car inssurance, and they really know how to make me angry. I WANT MY ITOUCH! D: I don't want to have to pay for stupid car insurance...**

**Second; **

**I went on a two week tour in Europe witth my choir. We traveled to Germany, Austria and Hungary and performed in some of the most famous places in the entire world. We even got to sing in a freaking castle! (I might post video or pics from that. If you have my facebook, then you've already seen some of them!) **

**Third; **

**I got home from Europe at midnight and then at five the next morning I was off on a road triip to California for a week, because my aunt got married. As you can proobably tell, I'm sick of traveling and hope to avoid it as much as possible for the rest of the summer. Possibly the rest of the year. **

**Fourth; **

**I got home on a monday at 5 AM and when I woke up some hours later, I was sick and was sick for the rest of that week. Fun, huh? The last thing I wanted to do was get on the computer and write anything, despite all the inspiration I got from europe. **

**Fifth; **

**Now I'm looking for a job so that I can pay my insurance and get that itouch I wanted. And while doing that, i had to turn in my origional story (which there will be a sneak preview of in two chapters) to my mother because she's an editor and is supposed to edit so that I can start sending out to agents. Although I enjoy writting fanfiction, I'd like to get my own stories out there too you know. **

**So as you can see, my summer has been quite busy. I wanted to update sooner but I just didn't have the time. I will update ASAP but it depends on when I can get the time to just sit and write. for a good chunk of this chapter I was writting this while watching Behind Enemy Lines, so hopefully it was good. **

**I'm so glad to be home!**

**REVIEW!**

**Love,**

**Alice**


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